ORGANIZATION
ADMINISTRATION
TE SUNDAY SCHOOl
CUNINGGIM
:ric M. NORT
I • I • I • I • I • I • I • I • I • I • I < I > I • I » I
CO. 1
:GON RULE CO. 1 USA
COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT.
TRAINING COURSES FOR LEADERSHIP
Learning and Teaching. Harold J. Sheridan and
G. C. White.
The Training of the Devotional Life. Minnie E.
Kennedy and Minna M. Meyer.
The Program of the Christian Religion. John
W. Shackford.
A Methodist Church and Its Work. Worth M.
Tippy and Paul B. Kern.
Life in the Making. Wade Crawford Barclay,
Arlo A. Brown, Alma S. Sheridan, William J.
Thompson, and Harold J. Sheridan.
TRAINING COURSES FOR LEADERSHIP
Edited by HENRY H. MEYER and E. B. CHAPPELL
The Organization and
Administration of
the Sunday School
BY
JESSE L. CUNINGGIM
and
ERIC M. NORTH
Approved by the Committee on Curriculum of the Board of
Sunday Schools of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the
Committee on Curriculum of the General Sunday School
Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South
THE METHODIST BOOK CONCERN
NEW YORK CINCINNATI
SMITH & LAMAR
NASHVILLE DALLAS RICHMOND
-»!>«
c*
JS
Copyright, 1919, by
ERIC M. NORTH
FEB 24 1919
®CI.A5L1«92
CONTENTS
Chapter Page
Foreword 5
I. The Importance of the Sunday School. . 7
II. What the Sunday School Should Do 15
III. Okganizing the Sunday School 24
IV. Instruction in the Sunday School 34
V. Training in Worship 51
VI. Training in Christian Conduct 66
VII. The Class and the Department 79
VIII. The Sunday School in Session 91
IX. Supervising the Sunday School 102
X. The Physical Equipment of the Sunday
School 118
XI. The Extension of the Sunday School . . 135
XII. The Sunday School and the Church 146
FOKEWOKD
Numerous books on the organization and admin-
istration of the Sunday school have been written in
recent years. Most of them present a skeleton form
of organization and an outline program of adminis-
tration. In this book the authors have furnished
a different kind of treatment of the subject. Instead
of suggesting fixed forms of organization they offer
an exposition of the principles upon which they be-
lieve the organization and administration of the
Sunday school should be based. In place of a formal,
stereotyped program for all schools, they describe
basic functions of the school and of its various parts.
The disadvantage of readymade plans and programs
is that often they do not fit actual situations, owing
to the widely divergent conditions that prevail in
different communities. A mastery of the principles
that underlie all efficient Sunday-school organiza-
tion and an understanding of the chief functions of
the school should prepare a student to shape an
organization and plan a program suited to the pecul-
iar conditions of any situation.
In common with the other books in the Training
for Leadership Series this has been written pri-
marily for young people in preparation for teaching
and administrative leadership in the school of the
Church. It will also be found to be adapted for
study by groups of teachers and leaders in service.
The Editors.
5
CHAPTER I
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
Note the way your officers and teachers think and act
toward the Sunday school, and what effort they make to
acquire skill in doing their work. What would you say is
their estimate of the Sunday school's importance? Do you
think that estimate is correct?
1. Education and Religion. Horace Bushnell said,
"The soul of culture is the culture of the soul." Per-
haps this truth has not been grasped in popular
thinking with sufficient clearness. There can be no
true culture that does not involve the religious life.
Any education that does not give due place to reli-
gion is fatally defective.
Education has been defined as "the harmonious
development of all the human powers." Though we
may not regard such a conception as adequate, it
certainly has some value. Of course, if education is
to be viewed in this light it will be seen to include
religious development. For one of the human
capacities is the capacity for religion. No interest
of the human soul is more universal than that which
leads us to feel after God. Scientific investigation
of individuals and of races has taught us that reli-
gious aspiration is a fundamental tendency of human
nature. Potentially, at least, humanity is, as
Sabatier has said, "incurably religious." Therefore,
7
OKGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
if education is to concern itself with the harmonious
development of the capacities of the human being
it cannot ignore religion.
If we look at education less from the viewpoint
of the child's nature than from that of his environ-
ment we are led to the same conclusion as to the
importance of religious culture. We may define
education as "adjustment to one's environment/"' but
when we come to define "environment" it is impos-
sible to stop short of the spiritual. There can be no
complete adjustment to environment which does not
include proper relations to Him in whom "we live,
and move, and have our being."
Again, if education be defined as "adjustment to
the spiritual possessions of the race," as President
Butler puts it, religion must have a dominant place.
For when the spiritual possessions of the race are
defined, one finds along with those that are scien-
tific, literary, aesthetic, institutional, a religious
heritage that outshines all the others. We are
heirs of all the ages religiously as well as in other
respects. If, then, the child has a right to his full
inheritance he must not be deprived of religious
culture. One cannot be regarded as well educated
who has not been led into the possession of his rich
religious inheritance.
Some prefer to define education in terms of "effi-
ciency." They say that the truly educated person
is the socially efficient person. Even so it is still
true that religion cannot be omitted from the scheme
and leave the goal attainable. The "socially effi-
cient" person must carry his full share of social re-
sponsibility and do his full share of service in all
8
SUNDAY SCHOOL IMPORTANCE
social relationships. The man who is economically
or politically efficient, but who is not effectively shar-
ing in the great religious activities of the world can-
not be said to be "socially efficient" in the largest
sense.
No matter how we view education, it cannot be
adequately defined without including the culture of
religion. The person who is not developed reli-
giously, who is not properly adjusted to his reli-
gious environment, who has not come into the pos-
session of his religious inheritance, who is not re-
ligiously efficient, is not educated in the fullest sense.
2. Religious Education in National Life. If religion
is essential to the individual it is no less necessary
to the nation. If the culture of the soul cannot be
wisely omitted from the education of any one child
it certainly ought to be provided for all the children
of the land. This means that any sound national
system of education must make adequate provision
for training in religion.
The Bible is interwoven with every phase of na-
tional life. To be fully understood American his-
tory must be read in the light of the Bible. So also
with our literature. It is impossible to appreciate
English or American literature apart from an inti-
mate knowledge of the Scriptures. American law
finds its highest sanctions in the principles of jus-
tice laid down in the Word of God. American ideals
have been inspired by the prophets and the teachings
of Jesus Christ. More important to our national life
than all other literature is the Bible, and a knowl-
edge of this Book is necessary to intelligent citizen-
ship.
9
OKGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
But the Bible is chiefly a book of religion, and
unless we so regard it we miss the very heart of its
message. It is well to know Bible literature, history,
and customs ; but these are only the outer forms that
carry in them the real message of God to man. It
is the religion of the Bible that our nation must
know and feel if we are to have national character
and stability. Only as the nation conforms to the
will of God can it reasonably hope to abide. It is
of supreme importance that the national system of
education shall imbue the people with a truly reli-
gious ideal. "Where there is no vision, the people
perish."
3. A Challenge to the Church. But how is the
national system of education to be made religious?
It must be done, if done at all, through the three
great educational agencies of the nation — the home,
the public school, and the church. These are all
mutually related and form integral parts of our
national system of education.
The most important of these three institutions is
the home. It is divinely designed and adapted for
the work of character building ; and where the home
meets its opportunity and responsibility, religious
culture receives proper attention. But unfortu-
nately such homes are the exception rather than the
rule. Some day the American home may become
more efficient in this respect, but at present it is
to be feared that the great majority even of Chris-
tian parents in America are giving no serious atten-
tion to the religious training of their own children.
The public school has largely relieved parents
of responsibility for education in general, but it
10
SUNDAY SCHOOL IMPORTANCE
does not and, in the nature of the case, cannot supply
the needed religious culture. Let us hope that some
way may be found for making the public school more
effective in developing Christian character, but for
the present it is debarred from dealing directly and
adequately with the religious needs of the pupil.
The democratic principle of the separation of church
and state on the one hand, and the difficulties grow-
ing out of denominationalism on the other, combine
to exclude religious instruction and training from
our public schools. In the present situation there
is little reason for expecting the public school to
make any large direct contribution to religious edu-
cation.
The situation places upon the church a great re-
sponsibility and opens a corresponding door of
opportunity. If religion has an essential place in
the training of the individual or the nation, and if
religious training is supplied neither by the home
nor the school, the only other agency to meet the
need is the church. And this is not the easiest
but the most difficult part of the educational process.
The magnitude of the. task calls for the most earnest
endeavor on the part of the church. If the church
fails, the result will be fatal. Home and nation are
both depending on the church for the spiritual leaven
that is necessary to save us from the ruin of secular-
ism.
4. The Place of the Sunday School. The church
carries forward its educational work through vari-
ous agencies. Broadly speaking, all the work of the
church is educational. The various congregational
meetings, the departmental organizations — such as
11
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
the Epworth League, missionary societies, brother-
hoods, and various clubs — all these are seeking the
development of Christian character. But the Sun-
day school is the only agency that undertakes seri-
ously and systematically to promote the religious
education of the whole membership of the church
and the entire child life of the community. If, there-
fore, the church must be responsible for the religious
development of the nation, it follows that the task
devolves mainly upon the Sunday school.
5. The Mission of the Sunday School Considered More
in Detail. (1) At present it is the chief agency for
recruiting the membership of the church. Just what
per cent of the additions to the church membership
comes through the Sunday school may be hard ac-
curately to determine, but eighty-five per cent is the
figure usually given. It is also conceded that as a
class the members of the church who are won through
the Sunday school in childhood are more likely to
develop strong and stable Christian character than
adults who are reached either through revivals or
by individual appeals.
(2) Not only is the Sunday school an efficient re-
cruiting agency for the church, but it is doing a
great work in the development of Christian charac-
ter. Indeed, this is its greatest task, and its methods
are peculiarly adapted to the achievement of this
end. The Sunday school is simply the church or-
ganized for religious education. It is the church
school of religion. It aims to fashion the rising
generation after the likeness of Christ and to train
even the adult church membership to do the work
of Christ. When we recall that a large per cent of
12
SUNDAY SCHOOL IMPORTANCE
the members of the average church are either inac-
tive or ineffective, or both, we are impressed anew
with the bigness of the task of the Sunday school.
And when we think in terms of the whole nation,
the task becomes almost overwhelming.
(3) The Sunday school is the field where the lay-
men find their largest opportunity for Christian
service. It is distinctly a laymen's movement, and
through it many thousands of men and women are
freely giving their time and effort to the task of
building the kingdom of God. What the Sunday
school has accomplished in training lay workers
for the church no man can say; but it is certain
that if the work of the Sunday school should sud-
denly cease, the result would be national disaster.
6. Sunday-School Work Calls for Skill. In view of
the strategic importance of the Sunday school as
one of our nation-wide educational enterprises the
need of skilled Sunday-school workers is imperative.
"Anything that is worth doing is worth doing well."
This saying applies with peculiar force to the work
of the Sunday school. In all its departments it
demands skill of the highest order. And skill in the
Sunday school is not achieved by mere wishing.
Here personality is being dealt with in its highest
phases and most complex relations. Here not coarse
material but souls are being fashioned after a
definite Model. If other teachers need skill for their
work, the Sunday-school worker needs it more.
But difficult as is the Sunday-school task, it is
not beyond the ability of those who earnestly strive
to accomplish it. It is only necessary to give heed
to the advice of Paul to Timothy, "Give diligence to
13
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
present thyself approved unto God, a workman that
needeth not to be ashamed, handling aright the
word of truth" (2 Tim. 2. 15).
Constructive Work
In the light of this chapter write an estimate of your
own Sunday school and suggest plans by which its members
can be helped to realize the importance of its work.
References
"The Graded Sunday School in Principle and Practice,"
Meyer, Part I, Chapter I.
"The Modern Sunday School and Its Present-Day Task,"
Cope, Chapters I and II.
14
CHAPTER II
WHAT THE SUNDAY SCHOOL SHOULD DO
What is the aim of your Sunday school? Ask your
superintendent. Ask at least one of the teachers. Write
the answers in your notebook.
1. What the Sunday School Is For. Just what is
a Sunday school for? Some officers and teachers
would say, "To teach the Bible," or "To teach the
children what they need to know about God and
Jesus." Some pastors might say, "To increase the
membership of the church." Occasionally the Sun-
day school is treated as if its principal function were
to raise money for church benevolences. Each of
these statements omits some vital part of the Sun-
day-school task. Let us go into the subject a little
deeper.
Jesus came preaching the good news of a kingdom
in which all men could find God, their Father, and
do his will in brotherly service to their fellows. For
this kingdom he lived and died ; and he expects those
who make him the Master of their lives to help in
extending his kingdom into all the world. The
Christian purpose is to fill society full of the ideals
and aims of Jesus Christ. Christians are doing this
in two ways: (1) by supporting all movements for
correct ideals in commerce, in industry, in education,
in public affairs; (2) by aiming at the development
15
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
of sound and symmetrical Christian character in
each individual. It is with the second method that
the Sunday school is mainly concerned. The pupil
is central. Every plan of the school must be shaped
to encourage the growth of his spiritual life. What-
ever does not contribute to this end must be reshaped
or discarded. The test of the Sunday school is its
effect upon the life of the pupil.
How will your school meet this test? By what
standards do you judge it?
2. What Christian Character Is. Just what do we
mean by Christian character? Our frequent use of
such terms as "weak character" and "strong char-
acter" gives us a clue to the answer. A man of
strong character is one who decides matters for him-
self. He is not swayed by others like a man of
"weak character." A man of good character is he
who chooses good actions rather than bad. Hence,
it is in the choices one makes that character is
displayed.
It follows that obedience is not always an expres-
sion of character. Obedience may be forced; it may
result from fear ; it may be rendered because of other
low motives; it may be the simple result of habit.
And even good habits are not all there is of charac-
ter. To act in the same way every time a given
situation occurs is well worth while provided the
reaction to the situation is morally sound; but a
trained animal may do that well. Situations are
constantly changing, so that the proper habit is often
lacking, and a person must of necessity make vol-
untary choice. In such situations what a person
wishes will determine his course of conduct. Char-
16
TASK OF SUNDAY SCHOOL
acter appears in the expression of individual pur-
poses. This is self-expression.
A Christian, therefore, is one who takes as his
ideal of life the teachings of Jesus and guides his
actions by the spirit of Christ. He constantly seeks
to know the mind of Christ more fully and feels the
presence of God in his daily life. He finds God in
nature and in the world of men and draws near to
God in private devotion and public worship. His
greatest joy in life is the service of his fellow men.
In a word, a Christian has "the mind . . . which
was also in Christ Jesus." The Sunday school is a
success when it leads its pupils to adopt Christian
ideals of life.
In preparing to teach or conduct the worship in
the Sunday school how far should the formation
of character be the conscious aim?
3. How Character Is Formed. When we try to ac-
count for characters with which we are familiar we
find ourselves speaking in terms of personal in-
fluence. "Evil associations," "a good home," "loyal
.friends," are readily recognized as forces that help
to form good character. Just how do these influ-
ences operate? Every person has a tendency to
act like those about him. Sometimes this is done
consciously; but frequently the words or deeds of
others influence us unconsciously by what is termed
"suggestion." The lad learns profanity from his
playmate without the slightest mental effort. A
burst of laughter sets us smiling though we may be
entirely ignorant of its cause.
By unconscious imitation we reflect not only the
deeds but even the very feelings of those about us.
17
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
The attitude of parents toward their neighbors is
accurately reflected in the feelings and deeds of the
children. This openness to suggestion and readiness
to imitate are particularly marked in childhood.
Bit by bit modes of feeling, thinking, and doing are
copied until they become a part of character. It is
by personal influence, exerted through suggestion
and adopted in imitation, that the will of the child
comes to be turned definitely in one direction or
another.
However, about the time a child reaches the period
of adolescence he begins to question his habits, to
ask the reason for his acts, and so to choose for
himself. It is then that the factor of choice comes
in to work along with suggestion and imitation.
Here the youth begins to choose his own ideals from
among the various suggestions that come to him and
to shape his conduct to fit his chosen ideals. Thus,
adolescence is the most critical period in character
formation. At this period emphasis should be laid
upon the responsibility for conduct growing out of
freedom of choice, which lies at the very founda-
tion of all strong character.
If we would develop Christian character in the
young we must provide a Christian atmosphere
wherein Christian attitudes and conduct abound.
Only as ideals of Christian living are set before them
in real life can children make these ideals their own.
No amount of instruction or rewards for good be-
havior or punishment for bad conduct can compare
in effectiveness with the personal influence of a real
Christian in shaping the character of a child. The
chief schooling of the character of a child is to be
18
TASK OF SUNDAY SCHOOL
"his participation in our work and in our fight to set
up the kingdom of God in the world." 1
Not only must we provide a Christian environment
for the young, but we must also see to it that young
persons have plenty of opportunity to act in response
to Christian ideals. It is useless to set before the
boy the ideal of helpfulness unless he is given some
opportunity to be helpful. Only when the ideal is
acted out does the child really make it his own.
"Impression" must find "expression" if it is to be-
come fixed in character. When the child has been
properly trained in the preadolescent period, as he
approaches adolescence and begins to rely upon his
own judgment the chances are that, with the aid of
a conscience quickened by the Divine Spirit, he will
make right choices.
While changes in the whole life are more marked
at the beginning of adolescence than at any other
period, changes are going on all the time. Character,
good or bad, never ceases to grow. The proverb
"As the twig is bent, the tree's inclined" is quite
true. We cannot make the twig nor cause it to
grow; but we can determine whether it shall make
a straight or a crooked tree and we can retard or
hasten its development. Character formation is
growth, and the teacher can assist and guide the
development of life. It is important, let it be said
again, that the teacher know the conditions and
needs of the growing material at the particular stage
of development with which he proposes to deal.
The boy of eight and the youth of twenty will re-
spond to different stimuli, and they will also respond
1 "Education in Religion and Morals," Coe, page 182.
19
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
differently. The same person will make a different
response to the same influences at different periods
of life. Our business is to see that influences and
opportunities for action are both so adapted to the
enlarging capacity of the pupil that he will be con-
stantly developing in the direction of mature Chris-
tain character.
4. How the Sunday School Can Assist in the Form-
ing of Christian Character. As before indicated, the
process of forming character is going on constantly
in every human life. What can the Sunday school
do to assist in the formation of Christian charac-
ter, and how is this assistance to be rendered? In
the light of the foregoing discussion it must do two
things: (1) Provide friendly contact with persons
of strong, symmetrical Christian character; and (2)
afford opportunity for definite Christian activities.
(1) The resources in the Sunday school for the
first requirement are usually abundant. First of
all, there are the officers and teachers. Pupils are
quick to respond to the influence of the teacher who
shows a real interest in them, is regular in his
habits, and gives evidence of earnest preparation for
the task of teaching. They cannot "catch" the Chris-
tian spirit from a teacher who is destitute of it, but
they respond readily and generously to wholesome,
joyous, active, companionable Christian living. Char-
acter is contagious.
Next, the Sunday school has for lesson material
all the great personalities of the Bible and of Chris-
tian history. Courageous Abraham, loyal Ruth, in-
corruptible Joseph; Amos, wrathful against social
injustice ; Paul the hero, the Good Samaritan, and a
20
TASK OF SUNDAY SCHOOL
hundred other illustrations from life or parable —
these are all at hand to be made to the pupils real
persons whom they can study and discuss and com-
panion with. And what shall be said of Christ
Jesus, our Lord? — he of the boundless love — of his
joyousness, his patience, his manly vigor, his delight
in the plain people, his self-sacrifice for all? The
more vividly the pupils of the Sunday school see
him, find him real as he teaches and heals and lives
with the people of Galilee and Judea, the more
readily and completely will they respond to his
leadership. Through every stage of their growth
pupils can come to know God the Father more and
more fully as he is revealed in Jesus his Son. Bring-
ing the pupils near to the Father is the real goal
of religious education.
(2) While every kind of proper activity should
contribute to and give evidence of the pupil's growth
in religion, there are two types that should be pres-
ent at every stage of his progress. The first is Chris-
tian conduct toward his fellows. Opportunities for
this will constantly arise in the life of the home, the
school, the playground, or the shop. Other oppor-
tunities will come in special needs of those about
him, in community work, in appeals for a suffering
world, in the cause of missions. Special classes in
the Sunday school should afford the more advanced
pupils opportunities for training for leadership in
the Sunday school and in the other work of the
church. The second type of activity is the pupil's
direct dealings with God as expressed in public and
private prayer, in the singing of hymns, and in pub-
lic worship.
21
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
The two parts of the Sunday-school task are to
guide the pupil's growth in Christian conduct and
Christian worship.
5. The Need of Knowledge. One more factor must
be considered without which the influence of the
teacher can neither be strong nor abiding. I mean
knowledge. This the teacher must both possess and
be able to impart. Before pupils can respond to the
influence of Christ they must know his life and
teaching. They cannot share intelligently in mission-
ary interest and enterprise until they know real
conditions in missionary lands. As their interests
widen, their knowledge must broaden. They must
first know the Bible as a book of stories, but later
it must be taught to them as a great book of litera-
ture and a repository of history. And when their at-
tention is turned to our own nation, they should
learn that God is a God of nations as of individuals,
and his hand should be revealed in our own national
and ecclesiastical history. Especially, if they are
to be fully conscious of the presence of God in the
world of to-day, they must be made acquainted with
present-day religious movements and spiritual forces.
When they come to take up responsibilities as mem-
bers of the community they should understand the
relations of Christianity to social, political, and in-
dustrial life. Moreover, they will find their place
for permanent religious work in the church of their
affiliation and will need training in the plans and
methods of the denomination with which they are
identified. The Sunday school must make generous
provision for the acquisition of all these kinds of
knowledge.
TASK OF SUNDAY SCHOOL
6. The Threefold Function of the Sunday School.
The task of the Sunday school has three aspects:
It must guide the growth of the pupil in religious
knowledge, it must train the pupil in Christian wor-
ship, and it must guide the pupil into the fields of
Christian service and see that he knows how to serve
well. No one of these functions can be definitely
separated from the others in the organization and
work of the Sunday school. Consciously or uncon-
sciously, every teacher has to do with all three. To
achieve the highest possible kind of success a Sunday
school must have a well-developed program for all
three functions.
Constructive Work
1. Reread sections one to three of this chapter, testing
them in the light of your own experience. Do you find
their statements illustrated in your Sunday-school class?
Write in your notebook the illustrations that occur to you.
2. Make a list of any new ideas that sections four and five
have brought to you. How would they alter your work in
the school? Write the answers in your notebook.
Think over the work of your Sunday school and list under
the headings "Guiding Growth and Knowledge," "Training
in Worship," and "Training in Conduct" all the different
things that are done. What items come under none of
these heads? Which division shows the most adequate
program? Which is weakest? How do these actual con-
ditions affect the development of the pupils? Write the
answers in your notebook.
References
"What Is Education?" Welton.
"Education in Religion and Morals," Coe, Chapter VIII.
"The Pupil," Barclay, Chapters I to III.
"The Teacher," Barclay, Chapters II and III.
23
CHAPTER III
ORGANIZING THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
Asceetain the enrollment of your school, including the
ages of the members of each class. Does each class
represent a distinct age group? What departments are
recognized in the school? Upon what basis are the pupils
grouped into classes?
1. Organization Determined by Membership. The
organization of the Sunday school should be fash-
ioned according to the material in hand. It is
not a cut-and-dried scheme of departments; it is
rather an arrangement of the pupils according to
their own needs; such an arrangement as will best
promote the purpose in mind — the development of
Christian character.
At the present time the Sunday school includes
within its active membership various groups of chil-
dren, young people, and adults. Ordinarily it min-
isters also to many who are not able to attend the
regular weekly session of the school — babies,
mothers, the sick and infirm, etc. Indeed, it has
come to be recognized that the membership of the
school ideally is one with the constituency of the
church.
If, then, the organization of the school is to meet
the needs of the entire membership, actual and pos-
sible, it must be adapted to the several groups,
whether young or old, who attend the regular ses-
sion, and also to those who for any reason are kept
away. This requires not only the correct arrange-
24
SUNDAY SCHOOL ORGANIZED
merit of those in the school proper, but also the
adoption of plans for extending the benefits of the
school to the larger constituency. Only the former
is considered in this chapter ; the latter is discussed
in Chapter XI, "The Extension of the Sunday
School."
2. The Necessity for Grading. Practical conditions
make it necessary for the pupils of a school to be
grouped. There are not teachers sufficient for each
pupil to have a teacher to himself, even if this were
desirable. But this is not desirable. Education is
not simply a process of individual development but
of social adjustment. There is therefore educational
value in the grouping of pupils. It is demanded
both by practical conditions and educational theory.
But the grouping of pupils should not be a mere
haphazard putting of them together. The arrange-
ment should be in keeping with the law of life's
needs. There are two fundamental principles that
must be borne in mind. In the first place, emphasis
must be given to the fact that the pupil is the de-
termining factor in the whole work of education.
The materials, the method, the organization, must
be fitted to the pupil. We can no longer think of
making the child to conform to arbitrary standards,
as has too often been done. Standards must be made
to fit his needs. Those things must be given him
for his spiritual development which he can assimi-
late, and they must be given in such a way to make
assimilation possible. In the second place, the
pupil is a developing being, with different needs at
the various stages of his growth; and the Sunday
school is composed of pupils at many stages of
25
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
development. The Sunday school must be graded be-
cause God has graded human life.
Earlier books in this series have discussed at
length the several periods of development. It is
necessary here only to recall a few important facts.
Not only are there differences between maturity
and infancy, childhood and adolescence. In the last
two periods the observant worker will note variations
that necessitate further division into early childhood,
middle childhood, later childhood ; early adolescence,
middle adolescence, and later adolescence. Each of
these periods covers several years of growth; each
year is marked by certain possibilities and needs dif-
fering from those of other years. The characteristics
of each separate year are not of course so marked
as are those of the several larger periods; even the
line of separation between the several periods can-
not be absolutely and sharply fixed at a given time ;
there is gradual progress from one year to another
and from one period to another. Yet the general
characteristics of each period are fairly well defined.
3. The Sunday-School Grading. In keeping with the
natural stages of human development the modern
Sunday school, apart from its extension work, is
organized into the following departments: Begin-
ners', Primary, Junior, Intermediate, Senior, Young
People's, and Adult. The members of each of these
departmental units have many things in common.
There are certain aptitudes, therefore, that belong
to the department as a unit. Especially is the group-
ing by departments adapted to the cultivation of
worship and various forms of expressional activities.
It lends itself splendidly to organized effort of many
26
SUNDAY SCHOOL OKGANIZED
kinds and to the development of leadership. There
are also certain types of instruction that may be
given most effectively to the department as a whole.
But departmental grouping is not sufficient to
meet the full need of the developing person. Each
year of growth marks a distinct advance, and this
advance is marked and promoted by the grades of
the public school. It is necessary, therefore, for the
Sunday school to group its pupils not only in de-
partments but within the several departments by
grades corresponding in general to the several years
included. This more minute grading is important
not only for the sake of effective instruction but
also for the more intimate and effective cultivation
of worship and formation of right habits.
The organization of the modern Sunday school by
departments and grades is shown by the following
scheme of grading :
Department
Grades
Approximate Age
Beginners'
4,5
,1 "
Primary
one, two, three
6,7,8
Junior
four, five, six
9, 10, 11
Intermediate
seven, eight, nine
12, 13, 14
Senior
ten, eleven, twelve,
15, 16, 17
Young People's
18-24
Adult 25 plus
This grouping of the several grades was adopted
by the Sunday-School Council of Evangelical De-
nominations at its meeting in January, 1917, with
the proviso that the twelve-year grade should be
counted as optional as between the Junior and Inter-
mediate Departments. The relative efficiency of the
Junior and Intermediate Departments must be con-
27
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
sidered in the placing of twelve-year-old pupils. 1
In the judgment of the council — and this represents
the best thought of to-day on the Sunday school —
it is to be understood that these groups shall be
considered flexible, thus permitting the adjustment
of the departmental organization to local needs. The
grouping of any particular pupils is not to be de-
termined primarily by age, but due attention is to
be given to social relations and to mental and reli-
gious development.
Is your school organized in keeping with this
scheme of grading?
4. Grading the Local School. In classifying the stu-
dents of the local school several practical problems
must be considered. At the very outset the question
will arise whether the suggested scheme of grading
is to be rigidly adhered to or modified in keeping
with local conditions. The answer already suggested
is that the scheme proposed has only general value
and must be used with considerable flexibility. The
organization is for the pupils, not the pupils for the
organization. The size of the school, the school
facilities, the social interests of a group, special
activities in which the group is engaged, the influ-
ence of certain individuals upon others, and similar
considerations call for the application of intelligent
judgment in making local adjustments.
The size of the school or the arrangement of the
building, for example, may make it impracticable to
have the seven separate departments. It will then
be necessary to combine two or more departments.
1 Minutes of the Sunday-School Council of Evangelical Denominations,
January, 1917, page 44.
28
SUNDAY SCHOOL ORGANIZED
But which departments should be combined? The
answer to this question is usually determined by
the number of pupils in or available for the several
departments, and other local conditions. Other
things being equal, it will perhaps be best to com-
bine the Intermediate and Senior Departments into
one. If further combinations are necessary, the
young people and adults can be combined. Beyond
this a good principle to follow is to give the benefit
of separate departmental grouping to the lower
grades.
How many grades and classes should there be
within each department? This will depend largely
on the size of the school but also upon the number
of good teachers to be had and the character of the
available facilities. As already indicated, if the
school is large enough to justify it, and teachers and
facilities can be provided, there should be one grade
for every year included in the department, and one
or more classes for each year according to the num-
ber of students enrolled. Under ordinary conditions
the size of the classes below the Senior Department
should be from seven to ten; in the Senior Depart-
ment fifteen is perhaps not too many; while in the
Adult and Young People's Departments the size
of the class will be determined by the character of
the course of study, the social interests, the group
tendencies, and the like.
Should sexes be grouped in separate classes? No
categorical answer can be given. At present there
are considerable differences of opinion and of prac-
tice. The public school assigns boys and girls to
the same classes not only in the lower grades but
29
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
even in the adolescent period. It is to be remem-
bered, however, that the conditions in the Sunday
school in many respects are quite different from
those in the public school. When practicable to
do so the separation of sexes is to be advised in
classes of the Junior, Intermediate, and Senior De-
partments. Even in the Young People's and Adult
Departments it will often be found conducive to best
work to have separate classes for men and women.
But more important than the separation of the sexes
is the grading in keeping with the age and inter-
ests of the pupils. If, therefore, either principle is
to be followed to the exclusion of the other, it is
better to group according to age and interest even
though boys and girls are placed in the same class.
How much care is exercised in classifying the
students in your school?
5. Progress and Promotion. The graded Sunday
school is composed largely of growing children. The
proper organization of the school, therefore, involves
more than mere assignment of the pupils to their
appropriate departments and grades, however cor-
rectly this may be done. Suitable provision must
be made for and due attention given to promotions.
This is important ; for unless this is done, the school
will soon cease to be graded, and the needs of the
pupils will not be met. It should be emphasized also
that proper attention to promotion will go far to-
ward cultivating in the Sunday school and church
a sense of progress in Christian thought and life
— a consummation devoutly to be wished.
What should be the basis of promotion? In the
public schools pupils are promoted on the satisfac-
30
SUNDAY SCHOOL ORGANIZED
tory completion of the courses assigned, and this
is determined largely, though not solely, by examina-
tion. Properly conducted examinations or tests may
be used in the Sunday school for their educational
value, but promotions must be made mainly on more
general grounds. The business of the school is the
development of Christian character. Therefore,
faithfulness in doing the work assigned, the ability
to profit by the work of the next grade, maturity of
character, furnish a better basis for promotion than
a mere knowledge test.
Care must be taken not to cheapen Sunday-school
work by bestowing honors unduly. But the ap-
propriate observance of Promotion Day and the
giving of proper recognition should prove of real
educational value. For the completion of a grade
a promotion card is sufficient ; for the completion of
a department, a simple certificate ; and for the com-
pletion of the course, a diploma of graduation. Much
should be made of graduation as the goal to which
every pupil should aspire. But graduation must not
be thought of as a separation from the Sunday school
and its work, but as a promotion into advanced stud-
ies and adult responsibilities.
In the ungraded Sunday school it has been cus-
tomary for teachers to continue with the same class
for years. In the public schools the pupils are
promoted, while the teacher remains in the same
grade. The latter plan is much to be preferred, as
it makes it possible for the teacher to become more
skillful in his work in that he has an opportunity
for repeated and prolonged study of the same prob-
lems. In view, however, of the large part the per-
31
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
sonal influence of the teacher plays in Sunday-school
work, it may be worth while in many instances to
allow the teacher and the class to remain together
within the limits of the department. This plan
would also give each teacher in a given department
an opportunity to become thoroughly acquainted
with the several grades and courses and encourage
unity and consistency in the work of the department.
Are pupils in your school promoted with proper
care?
6. The Young People's and Adult Departments. The
last several sections have been dealing with boys
and girls who have not completed the graded course.
When we pass to the higher departments, there
are no grades, properly speaking; the pupils are
grouped according to individual interests and prac-
tical convenience. The grouping may be according
to sex or according to age or according to both sex
and age ; it may be according to the character of the
course desired — into classes for Bible study, for
teacher training, for training parents, for training
in various forms of Christian service; or according
to the method of teaching — into lecture classes, study
classes, classes for investigation, and the like. Local
conditions must largely determine the grouping in
both the Young People's and the Adult Depart-
ments.
While these two departments are alike in the
general principle of grouping their pupils, they differ
greatly from each other in their general interests.
The one includes the young men and women from
eighteen to twenty-four and must meet the needs of
young life. The other department must care for the
32
SUNDAY SCHOOL OKGANIZED
interests of maturer men and women. The upper
age limit of the Young People's Department is not
therefore to be understood to prevent the promotion
into the Adult Department of those young people
who before passing twenty -four shall have established
homes of their own or otherwise have taken up the
responsibilities of adult life. 2
The emphasis upon the grades and the graded
work must not lead to any neglect of these more
advanced departments. The work of these must not
be thought of simply as a pleasing pastime nor en-
gaged in merely for the purpose of encouraging a
good cause or setting a good example to the chil-
dren. The pupils of the lower grades may well be
inspired to look forward with eagerness to the time
of graduation, but it must not be thought of as a
graduation from the school, but rather as the passing
over into higher forms of work. The Young Peo-
ple's and Adult Departments should stimulate and
provide for continuous growth in Christian charac-
ter and increasing efficiency in Christian service.
Constructive Work
Write in your notebook some of the changes that you
would suggest in your school in order to make it conform
to the ideals of this chapter.
References
"Organization and Administration of the Sunday School,"
Athearn, Chapter IV.
"The Graded Sunday School in Principle and Practice,"
Meyer, Chapters XVI, XVIII.
2 Minutes of the Sunday-School Council of Evangelical Denominations,
January, 1917, page 45.
CHAPTER IV
INSTRUCTION IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
Find out what system of lessons your school is using and
ascertain from certain officers and teachers why it was
chosen.
Review Chapter II, noting especially how growth in
knowledge and growth in activity depend on each other.
1. The Place of Instruction in the Sunday School.
Now that we have seen how the pupils should be
grouped and classified in order to make their reli-
gious education effective we must find out just what
we are to do with them. In Chapter II we saw the
threefold task of the Sunday school to be guiding
growth in Christian knowledge, training in worship,
and guiding growth in Christian activity. In these
next three chapters we shall consider what each of
these involves.
Instruction is the name of the process by which
growth in knowledge is guided. It includes two
factors: (1) selecting the new ideas — new knowledge
and new ideals — which we desire the pupil to have ;
(2) deciding upon the process by which we help him
to acquire these ideas. More briefly, it involves the
material and the method of instruction. Each de-
pends on the other, and both depend on the nature
of the pupil and the process by which he takes hold
of new ideas.
The whole group of ideas that we want the pupil
34
SUNDAY SCHOOL INSTRUCTION
to secure, when they have all been worked out in
the order in which the pupil can best acquire them,
forms what is called the curriculum.
2. The Curriculum of the Sunday School. So many
lesson systems for Sunday schools are now available
that few schools need to undertake the making of
their own curriculums. But to choose wisely among
them and to use intelligently the one chosen every
teacher and officer should understand the principles
governing the making of a curriculum. Not to do
so would be like taking a train without inquiring
where it was going. The principles are three :
1. The material should be so selected and arranged as to
provide for the steady progress of the pupil in character
toward his full development as a mature Christian. This
will be partly secured by following the second principle.
2. The material should be suited to the pupil at each
period of his development.
3. The curriculum should contain in its complete form
all the materials that are necessary for instruction. In
short, it should be progressive, graded, and comprehensive.
Everywhere in some degree teachers and superin-
tendents and lesson makers have recognized the need
of fitting the instruction to the pupil. Even when
the material of the lessons has not been graded, the
lesson helps and the teaching method have been
adapted to the pupils to some extent. As is now
generally admitted, the best results can be obtained
only when all three are carefully adapted to the
pupil. This involves five requirements:
1. The material must meet the pupil's present moral and
religious needs. By helping him solve in a Christian way
the problems of conduct that he is actually facing it defi-
nitely insures his growth in Christian character.
35
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
2. It must be really interesting to him. This does not
mean that it may not be hard to master it. In fact, if the
pupil has to work for it, he will value it more and retain
it better. But he must find it worth having for reasons that
are real to him and not artificial.
3. It must be based on what he already knows. Every
mind has to "proceed from the known to the unknown."
4. It must be in contact with his environment and experi-
ence outside the Sunday school. New knowledge gained in
day school should be woven into that gained in Sunday
school. Both will then contribute more to his growth.
5. It should require only such methods of teaching as are
suited to his age and capacity.
The more completely these requirements are met,
the more effective will the curriculum be. 1
Given these principles, where are we to look for
the material itself? By far the greater part of the
material for the lessons themselves will properly be
drawn from the Bible. As it has been for genera-
tions the great source of Christian inspiration and
instruction, so it continues to be. No other book
compares with it in its educational value to chil-
dren, to men, and to nations. Knowing, however,
that our pupils must realize that the Spirit of God
has been at work in the world since the Bible was
written as well as before, we shall desire to include
in the curriculum at the right places stories of such
Christian leaders as Luther and Wesley, of such
missionary heroes as Carey and Livingstone and
Mackay, and some account of the history of the
Christian church. We shall also wish our young
people, as they go out into the world, to have an
i Chapters IV, VII, X, XIII, XVI, XIX, and XXII in "Life in the Making"
give excellent illustrations of the application of these principles to the selec-
tion of lesson materials for each age group in the Sunday school.
36
SUNDAY SCHOOL INSTRUCTION
understanding of the relation of Christianity to
modern social conditions. Then they may wisely
do their part in building the kingdom of God in our
nation and the world. For this reason we should
include a study of the opportunities of Christian
leadership in the life of to-day.
Such material the most generally accepted lesson
systems now include. A complete statement of the
material for instruction should, however, add a num-
ber of other items which are an important part of
the curriculum. A study of the kinds of books there
are in the Bible and of how the Bible came to be
should be made at the right time. As the pupil
progresses through the school, certain great hymns
should become a part of his knowledge at each stage.
He will need to study the Lord's Prayer, some of
the Psalms, and other parts of the service of wor-
ship. The use of maps, of indexes, of Bible dic-
tionaries and other reference books, the study of
the great religious pictures of the world and of great
religious music, all belong in the curriculum. Every
school should thus add to the outline of its lesson
system a statement of the additional material that
is to be studied each year and should see to it that
the material is provided and used. 1 Finally a series
of elective courses of study for the adult classes
should be mapped out. Additional courses for
normal classes, for the training of teachers, and for
a parents' class should also be part of the program
of instruction in every school.
Has your school a statement of its curriculum
1 A condensed outline of such a statement for one year of the Junior Depart-
ment, based on the International Graded Lessons, is given on pages 38, 39.
37
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
STATEMENT OF THE CURRICULUM OF A SECOND-
YEAR JUNIOR CLASS
Based on the International Graded Lessons
Characteristics of Period
Unlimited energy and desire to
act:
Interest in making things.
Interest in stories of action.
Marked mental activity:
Interest in new words.
Interest in puzzles.
Ability to memorize.
Interest in accuracy.
Insistence on reality — "not
fairy stories, true stories."
Hero worship.
Individual assertiveness and
personal rivalry, but the
beginnings of team play.
Sensitiveness to public opinion.
Growing appreciation of rules
and authority.
Ability to read.
Tendency to make collections.
Religious Needs
Increasing recognition of the
kingship of God as revealed
by Christ and obedience to
him.
Activity governed by right
moral choices.
Appreciation of truth.
Ideals of service and usefulness.
Increased knowledge of reli-
gious facts.
38
SUNDAY SCHOOL INSTRUCTION
CURRICULUM
Lesson Material
I. Stories of Everyday Heroes,
involving action, moral
courage, service of fel-
low men — as Neesima,
Mackay, Reed, Clara
Barton, Riis. Six les-
sons.
II. Stories of Jesus — the Hero
of Heroes, a series of
stories of Jesus' life in
chronological order but
with emphasis on the in-
dividual story, inspiring
the children to love him
and choose him as their
hero. Significance of
reverence, praise, joy,
service, forgiveness, re-
pentance, trust, loyalty,
brought out in discus-
sion of concrete actions.
Twenty lessons.
III. Stories of Heroic Followers
of Jesus, involving obe-
dience to God, love of
church, heroism in self-
sacrifice, patience, mis-
sionary z e a 1 — P e t e r,
John, Stephen, Philip,
Paul, Carey, Morrison
(making the Chinese Bi-
ble), Judson, Lee and
Whitman (Indian Bi-
ble), Evans (making of
Cree Alphabet), Living-
stone (who kept his
word), Paton. Twenty
lessons.
IV. Stories of Old-Testament
Heroes, embodying
faithfulness, obedience,
patriotism, strength of
will, readiness to do
right — Joshua, Deborah,
Gideon, Samson. Six
Supplementary Teaching
Lesson Material
and Methods
Missionary geography con-
nected with the lessons.
Memorizing a Bible verse for
each lesson.
Mastery of location of books
of Bible and the divisions to
which they belong.
Mastery of references for Lord's
Prayer, Golden Rule, Ten
Commandments, Two Great
Commandments, Love Chap-
ter, Faith Chapter, Shepherd
Psalm, Traveler's Psalm,
Christmas Story, Visit of
Wise Men, "God so loved
the world," Two Founda-
tions.
Map making: Bible geography;
location of important places.
Brief prayers to memorize.
Making an illustrated work
book as a personal posses-
sion, containing pictures,
stories, and question-and-an-
swer work.
Collecting illustrations of Bi-
ble scenes.
Puzzles, with answers, in Bible
geography, Scripture texts,
"Who said it?"
Mastery of hymns: "There's a
Song in the Air"; "It Came
upon the Midnight Clear";
"There Is a Green Hill";
"Jesus Christ Is Risen To-
Day"; "Break Thou the
Bread of Life"; "From
Greenlan d's Icy Moun-
tains"; "The Son of God
Goes Forth to War" ; "True-
Hearted, Whole-Hearted ' ' ;
"Sound the Battle Cry";
"He is God's Hero"; etc.
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
completely worked out and understood by the
teachers? Would such a common understanding of
the work of the school promote success in your Sun-
day school ?
3. Choosing a Lesson System. From what has been
said it is clear that a school in choosing a lesson
system will be wise if it prefers a graded system to
the "uniform" system that has been in use so many
years. The latter claimed as advantages the facts
that under it the whole school and a large part of the
Sunday-school world were studying the same pas-
sages of Scripture, that a teacher who had studied
the lesson was prepared to take any class in the
school, that the teachers could be coached on the
next Sunday's lesson in a group, that a central
thought was provided upon which the superintend-
ent could focus the "closing exercises" of the school.
The first of these is no longer true; the second
never was true; the third is of doubtful value, since
it encouraged the study of the material only and
not also of the specific pupils it was to reach; the
fourth can be provided without the uniform system.
In so far as these were advantages they were more
than offset by certain disadvantages. It was often
necessary to stretch the real meaning of the text in
an endeavor to make it apply to the pupils of a given
grade. The systematic knowledge of the Bible which
the uniform lessons were supposed to provide actu-
ally did not result. Many adult classes lost interest
in the piecemeal study of disconnected fragments
of Scripture. As a matter of fact these difficulties
have been so clearly recognized that the makers of
the International Uniform System have modified the
40
SUNDAY SCHOOL INSTRUCTION
lessons for 1918 and thereafter by providing special
additional Biblical material suited to the different
age groups.
In addition to meeting the fundamental require-
ments of adaptation to pupils' needs and interests
a good lesson system should provide whatever in-
formation and directions are necessary to guide the
teacher in using the system and in teaching the
individual lesson. Illustrations and material for
handwork should be carefully selected and con-
veniently arranged. The appearance of the printed
matter should make its use a pleasure and set stand-
ards of good taste. These points should be con-
sidered in choosing a lesson system.
4. Why a Well-Chosen System Is Sometimes a Fail-
ure. Occasionally one hears of Sunday schools that
have tried a graded-lesson system — even some that
have been using it for some time — but have given it
up and returned to the uniform system. Why, if the
graded system is better adapted to the pupils, have
these schools given it up?
Probably most of the schools that try it for a
short time and then give it up do so either because
they have tried to introduce it too hastily or be-
cause — sad though it seems — some of the officers and
teachers are not willing to take the trouble to make
it a success. The complaint is made that the graded
system means harder work for the teacher. It may
be so at first simply because it is new. As a matter
of fact it is no harder to do good work under the
graded system than under the uniform system, but
poor work shows more because the general average
is higher. Moreover, under the graded system, in
41
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
which the teacher teaches the same series of lessons
for a succession of years, he will each year become
more expert in his knowledge of the material and
in meeting the needs of that particular grade of
pupils.
Some schools fail to obtain success with graded
lessons because they are not careful enough about
keeping the school graded. New pupils coming in
are not placed in classes where they really belong,
and soon the whole school is in confusion. The
teachers are then handicapped by having to teach
the graded lessons to pupils whom they do not fit.
Persistent vigilance on the part of a responsible
officer is necessary to maintain the proper standard.
Sometimes new teachers or new officers come into
the school and, not thoroughly understanding the
method and value of the graded lessons, are mis-
led by the false simplicity of the uniform lessons
and turn the school away from the line of progress
that it had been following. A determination steadily
to improve the work of the school will keep it faith-
ful to the graded lessons, for they make teachers
who are in earnest more skillful than they were be-
fore, and — most important of all — give to the pupil
a better knowledge of the Bible and its meaning and
develop a thorough loyalty to Christ.
Small schools often feel that they cannot use the
graded system because it seems to demand more
classes than they have teachers, and because sub-
dividing closely by grades would make classes very
small. This can be easily adjusted by combining
two or more grades in one class, teaching the lessons
in a cycle, and promoting each year to the next grade
42
SUNDAY SCHOOL INSTRUCTION
the pupils of the highest grade in the class, receiving
each year the pupils from the grade below. A
schedule showing how this may be done can be
obtained from the publishers of graded lessons.
In any use of the graded lessons "well begun is
half done." Introducing a graded-lesson system con-
sists in something more than handing the teachers
the new books a month beforehand, as if the material
were to be used in the same way as the previous
system. Every publisher of a graded system issues
careful explanations of the best way to introduce the
system and discussions of the work of each grade.
These should be procured and studied. The teacher's
and pupil's textbooks should both be in the hands
of the teachers, who should familiarize themselves
with the material for the grade they are to teach,
with the aim and general content of the material
just preceding and following theirs, and with the
purpose and outline of the system as a whole. This
may well take six months or a year, during which
frequent conferences of the teachers by departments
and occasional meetings of the whole staff will be
helpful. No actual teaching should be done until
every teacher understands the method. Meanwhile
the school should be very carefully graded. Then
the teaching of the graded lessons may be begun,
starting with the lowest grades in the first three or
four departments. The next year two grades in
each department will be using the material. By
the end of four years the entire school will be ad-
justed to the new system. Or the start may be made
in any class or classes in which the teacher is
thoroughly prepared and the pupils carefully graded,
43
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
provided that as each of such classes advances it
continues to use the graded-lesson material.
Patience, thoughtfulness, faith, and work will in-
sure real success.
Who selects the lesson system in your Sunday
school? Is the general plan understood by all the
teachers?
5. Methods of Teaching. The second factor in in-
struction is the process by which the pupil is helped
to acquire new ideas — the method of instruction.
This is fully treated in another book in this series,
"Learning and Teaching." All that can be done
here is to bring to mind certain important facts.
First of all, the process of teaching must cor-
respond to the process by which the mind naturally
takes hold of new ideas. "You can lead a boy to
knowledge, but you cannot make him think." A
natural interest in the material containing the new
idea must be stimulated. The material must then
be unfolded until the pupil sees clearly the central
point for himself; it must then be tied to what he
already knows by comparison and contrast; and
finally, he must be given opportunity to make use
of the new idea by putting it into action. No matter
in what grade the teaching is being done or what
the method used — whether story-telling, recitation,
discussion, or lecture — these steps must appear in
the process.
Do the pupils enjoy the work of the Sunday-school
classes you know? How far can you trace this to
the effectiveness of the method of teaching used?
Every method requires the use of means for mak-
ing the lesson vivid. The imagination can be relied
44
SUNDAY SCHOOL INSTRUCTION
upon to give reality when the new idea is in a set-
ting which is familiar. But where the scene or ob-
ject is unfamiliar it must be made real by picture
or model, that the story itself may be real. It is by
such means that new ideas are attached to and
modify the old and thus become the pupil's own
possession. These means should be graded accord-
ing to the pupil's interests and capacities. God's
care for the birds can be made vivid to a little child
through watching and feeding a bird, or cutting
and pasting a picture of a bird on colored paper, or
fluttering about the room to some appropriate kinder-
garten song. The method of simple dramatization
can be carried further with children a little older
in treating the simpler Bible stories, such as those
of Joseph and Ruth, and the missionary biographies.
The drawing or coloring of maps, the making of
models in clay or pulp, the depicting of Bible scenes
on the sand table, all have their proper and impor-
tant place in the work of the Sunday school. Pic-
tures, whether as photographs, stereographs, repro-
ductions of famous paintings, or lantern slides,
should be used freely through the entire school. The
making of an illustrated notebook by a pupil or a
whole class often serves to unite in a form easily
reviewed the impressions of a series of lessons. As
a matter of fact, material is never so vivid as when
we are studying it to use for something in which
we are interested.
This means that we must select our material with
activity in view and our activity with the material
in view. Thus, a study of Jesus' care for the hungry
may be connected with aid for a famine-stricken
45
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
district. Interest in missionary giving may lead
to a study in missionary biography. A new subject
may be studied in preparation for a debate, an
essay, or a pageant. The wise teacher will be con-
stantly on the alert for such combinations. Against
certain dangers, however, we must be on our guard.
The illustrations must really illustrate and give no
false conceptions. They must be to the pupils illus-
trations only. Otherwise the attention of the pupil
may be given to the illustration, with a resulting
loss of interest in the real subject of the lesson.
Good as models are and important as handwork is,
neither should be allowed to crowd out in any de-
gree the guidance of the growing Christian experi-
ence of the pupil with his fellows and with God.
Is your school making wise use of its illustrative
material? Has it a sufficient quantity?
6. The Training of the Teacher, (a) The supply
of teachers. — Most Sunday schools are troubled by
a lack of suitable teachers. This is sometimes due
to the fact that the work of teaching is looked down
upon by members of the church who have a capacity
for it. Often the church promotes this attitude by
a failure to treat the Sunday school seriously or to
honor publicly those who are giving themselves to
the work. The prevalence of the false idea that
"anybody can teach in Sunday school" has also set
up a debasing standard. Thus, the first step in
securing an adequate staff of qualified teachers is
to dignify the teacher's task in the eyes of the
church. Two other methods of providing teachers
must be used : the training of a selected group of the
older pupils of the school in what may be called
46
SUNDAY SCHOOL INSTRUCTION
the "young people's training class" and the further
training of those already teaching in a teacher-train-
ing class.
(6) The work of a young people's training class,
— Such a class consists of a group of students from
the Senior and Young People's Departments who
have answered the call to service in the Sunday
school and are ready to prepare for it. The class
meets at the regular time of the school and, in place
of the usual curriculum, studies a special curriculum
providing two or three years' training in prepara-
tion for teaching. This curriculum will involve four
fundamental subjects which the teacher needs to
know: (1) the pupil, his nature and development
at different ages, and the way his mind takes hold
of new ideas; (2) the materials of the curriculum;
for example, the Bible, Christian history and bi-
ography, the geography of Palestine; (3) principles
and methods of teaching; (4) the organization and
program of the Sunday school. In addition to this
necessary knowledge there must be opportunity to
observe actual teaching and to practice teaching
under suitable directions. The course of which this
book is a part provides especially for just such a
class.
(c) The work of a teacher-training class. — The
teacher-training class is composed of those already
engaged in teaching and meets outside of the Sun-
day-school hour for special training from three to
six months of the year. Its work consists in a
series of courses designed to furnish elementary
training for those who have not had it, and advanced
or "specialized" training for those who are ready
47
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
for it. This is the more necessary because in so
many schools teachers have no special training, and
because their work can so easily be improved by it.
Even those of experience find it freshening to take
up the systematic study of the teaching process. The
fundamental subjects are, again, child study, princi-
ples and methods of teaching, the materials of the
curriculum, and the program of the school. Several
such courses have been published by the denomina-
tional agencies. Here, as in the young people's class,
emphasis should be put on practical observation and
experimentation in teaching with criticism of the
results. The requirements for making a teacher can-
not be met simply by passing an examination in the
contents of a book.
How is your school meeting the problem of sup-
plying trained teachers?
7. How the School Can Help the Teachers. There
are many ways in which the school can help teachers
to be effective in their work, and every teacher has
a right to expect such help from the school. First
of all, proper conditions for class work, freedom from
disturbance, and sufficient supplies of the right kind
must be provided. Of special importance is the
teachers' library, which should contain the best books
on the different aspects of Sunday-school work and
which should be constantly enlarged. The books
may be circulated among the teachers or, better,
kept in a well-lighted room open two or three eve-
nings a week. The teachers can thus consult works
of reference, such as Bible dictionaries and maps,
which should not be circulated. The library should
be under the supervision of the librarian, who
48
SUNDAY SCHOOL INSTRUCTION
should be always on the lookout for valuable addi-
tions to it and ready to suggest helpful readings on
special subjects. Secondly, in addition to the special
courses offered by the teacher-training classes, the
teacher should be encouraged and aided to attend
the special meetings and institutes of the Sunday-
school boards and of county and State Sunday-
school associations and other religious-educational
organizations. From them many helpful suggestions
in method may be gotten, and also a sense of the
large and goodly fellowship at work on the same
great task. Finally, the school will insure for the
teacher generous appreciation and wise supervision.
Even justified criticism sarcastically given is worse
than useless — it is unchristian. The successes of the
teacher should be recognized openly, and the failures
discussed helpfully in private. Every teacher will
welcome and profit by supervision that is patient,
kindly, and expert.
Would you say that your Sunday school is helping
its teachers do their work? How? In what ways
could it be more helpful ?
Constructive Work
Take the outline of the lesson system used by your Sun-
day school and test it by the fourth and fifth principles of
adaptation given in section two.
Read the story of Joseph sold by his brethren (Genesis
37). What words and ideas in it need to be explained to a
class of twelve-year-old boys living in an American city?
What means would you use to make the story vivid?
What methods of teaching are in use in the different
departments of your school? Who is responsible for seeing
that the teaching is well done? As a teacher in training
49
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
what do you think you particularly need in order to im-
prove your work? What ways are there in your school or
your community for you to get it?
References
"Learning and Teaching," Sheridan and White.
"The Graded Sunday School in Principle and Practice,"
Meyer, Part I, Chapters V, VIII.
"The Sunday School at Work," Faris (editor), Part V,
Part IX.
"The Church School," Athearn, Chapters IV to X, sections
on curriculum and methods.
"The Modern Sunday School," Cope, Chapters XII, XIII,
XIV, XV, XVIII.
"Principles and Ideals for the Sunday School," Burton
and Mathews, Part I, Chapters V, VI. Part II, Chapters
II, III, VIII.
50
CHAPTER V
TRAINING IN WORSHIP
Record the programs of the opening and closing service
of worship of your Sunday school or of one of the depart-
ments for two or three Sundays.
What was the aim of each program? How many of the
items in each were really shared by the whole group? How
many were not?
Find out from pupils in different parts of the school
what parts of the service they like best and why.
1. The Need of Training in Worship. Every Chris-
tian church, and for that matter every reflective
Christian, recognizes the need of a direct sense of
the presence of God in our lives. Chief among the
means by which we become aware of God's presence
is worship. In it, either as individuals or as a group,
we turn to him in faith, in hope, in love, in loyalty,
in gratitude, or in reverence. By prayer or praise
or meditation we come before him and find his
Spirit responding to us. Often when we are alone
we so seek him. Often, too, as a group we express
our common needs and aspirations to him who is
our Father. Moreover, not only Christian experience
through the centuries but all human experience be-
fore Christianity and in other religions as well
points to worship as meeting an essential need of
human nature. How important it is, then, that we
should so train our children and young people that
51
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
they will normally and effectively find their way
directly to God in their private devotions and in
public worship. 1
Yet when we come to examine the provision that
is made for this in many of our Sunday schools
what do we find? We find, first of all, widespread
misconceptions of the place of worship in the pro-
gram of the school. The "opening exercises" in many
schools serve only the purpose of "getting things
started," of stimulating school spirit, of occupying
the time until the late pupils and teachers arrive,
of practicing hymns to be sung at a special service.
The "closing exercises" again are used for "lesson
review" or "to dismiss the school." Thus, the spirit
of worship is undermined or destroyed. A great
hymn expressing the highest aspirations of the
Christian life is interrupted by directions to hold
the last note or by the loud beating of time by the
leader. The spirit of a prayer in which the hearts
of all are lifted to God is broken by announcements
of the sale of tickets for a strawberry festival or
haphazard notices of meetings. Often the embarrass-
ments are due to insufficient preparation on the part
of the leader. A superintendent spends a few
moments before the school meets in selecting hymns,
some of which probably represent the religious ex-
perience of adults which children do not share.
He will call upon a teacher for extempore prayer,
ask the pastor or a visitor to make a few remarks
to the school, and sing another hymn. Small won-
1 The treatment here given applies particularly to the services of worship
in the Sunday school. For a fuller discussion of the nature of worship and
the processes of training in private as well as in public worship the student
should see "The Training of the Devotional Life," Meyer and Kennedy, in this
series.
52
TKAINING IN WOKSHIP
der that under these circumstances children grow-
up without a real sense of reverence, and that
"church" is a bore to them because they have never
learned in Sunday school to share in common wor-
ship.
What conditions do you find in your school that
interfere with the true spirit of worship ? How may
they be removed?
2. How Worship Helps to Make the Christian.
Growth in the Christian religion is more than growth
in Christian knowledge and in Christian fellow serv-
ice. It involves a development of a definite sense
of present relationship to God. The pupils of the
Sunday school must not know God simply as one
about whom they learn nor in response to whose
commands they do certain things. They must find
him for themselves as their God, as their loving
heavenly Father, at each stage of their experience.
Just as in the case of knowledge or conduct, so in
the case of worship we cannot make the child de-
velop ; we can only guide his development by remov-
ing obstructions and providing helps. This must
be done just as surely for worship as for knowledge
and conduct. For worship is the focus of the experi-
ence of the pupil in religion. On the one hand, all
that he has learned from study and example and
in daily living is gathered up and unified in one
experience, which is the expression of himself to
God. On the other hand, this experience in itself
modifies his future actions. The points of view
and attitudes of mind suggested and expressed in
worship become an essential part of his thought of
God and of his life with his fellows. A group of
53
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
children after a service of worship were in an
elevator that suddenly stuck between floors. Some
were frightened, but a little girl of six quietly quoted
the hymn that had been sung :
"God is my strong salvation;
What foe have I to fear?"
It is thus that worship helps to make the Chris-
tian.
"Worship is not," writes Jay S. Stowell, "an end
in itself, but, by making God and his purposes a
reality in the life of the Christian, it tends to unify,
to solemnize, and to give purpose to all of life. The
test of worship is always to be found in its effect
upon life. It makes the spiritual world a reality,
but it does more than this. It helps to create ideals
and to crystallize desires, ambitions, and purposes.
It moves the feelings and, by creating or intensifying
certain attitudes of mind, modifies all the activities
of one's life. It thus supplements and gives effec-
tiveness to our teaching of Christian truth." 2
Do you remember some church service that in-
spired you and gave you new determination for
Christian living? How did the service accomplish
this?
3. Principles that Guide Training in Worship. Just
as the characteristics and growth of the pupil on the
one hand, and the idea of the kind of a person we
want him to be on the other, determine the princi-
ples governing instruction, 3 so they determine the
principles of training in worship. These principles,
* "The Sunday School at Work," Fans (editor), pages 402, 403.
i See Chapter IV.
54
TRAINING IN WORSHIP
which govern selection of material and the conduct
of worship, are four:
(a) Unity. — The educational power of common
worship lies in the fact that the "suggestions" made
by other's conduct, which so greatly influence the
formation of character, are here not scattered or con-
tradictory but united in a single complete impres-
sion. This impression is all the stronger upon the
individual because it comes from all those about
him at once, and because he himself is taking part
also. For this reason anything that tends to destroy
that unity of impression should be removed, and
whatever promotes it should be added.
This will require, first of all, a unity in the group
itself. It must be a group that can worship effec-
tively together. The characteristic attitudes of mind
in worship can be experienced by all ages from the
beginners to the adults. Nevertheless, the forms of
expression and the range of ideas are so different
in different ages that the most effective training
in worship requires division of the school into de-
partments. Here the material of worship can be
carefully adapted to the characteristics of the par-
ticular groups. In any case the beginners', the pri-
mary, and the junior group should each have its
own program and place of worship.
It is particularly worth while to let the boys and
girls of high-school age be responsible, under wise
supervision, for the conduct of their own services.
This will be especially effective if they have already
had thorough training in the preceding departments.
Specific provision for the adult classes need not be
made in the Sunday-school service, as the church
55
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
service is largely designed for them, and because
a service planned for others in the school will usu-
ally be appreciated by adults also. At regular in-
tervals, at least as often as once a quarter, the
entire school should worship together. The younger
pupils and the older need to know one another as
part of the same school, and — more important —
as all children of the same heavenly Father whom
they unitedly worship.
The principle of unity further requires that within
any group at worship all must be actively worshiping
— teachers and officers as well as pupils and leaders.
The sight of a secretary making out reports or of
officers moving about distracts attention from the
service. •
Again, nothing in the contents of the service
should be contrary to the spirit of worship. Such
unworshipful matters as business announcements
and the reading of reports should be eliminated.
Care should also be taken that the attitude of mind
in one part of the service is in harmony with that
in the rest.
Finally, the conduct of the service should be uni-
fied. It should move forward steadily. Dragging
here, hurrying there, extra directions and changes,
should be avoided. This does not mean that more
than one person may not take part in leading the
service, but that all that is done is done in harmony
with the spirit of worship.
(6) Familiarity plus variety. — The spirit of wor-
ship can be maintained only when there is a free-
dom from strangeness, from wonder at what is com-
ing next. Curiosity and uncertainty greatly hinder
56
TRAINING IN WORSHIP
the attitude of reverence. The pupils wonder what
the leader is about instead of being occupied with
the thoughts of the hymns and prayers used. The
pupils must feel at home in worshiping God. Yet
care must be taken to see that the services do not
become monotonous. The superintendent's favorite
hymn may readily become a bore to the pupils. The
order of service or its lack of order may become
wearisome, and the pupils' active minds will seek
occupation elsewhere.
(c) Dignity. — Not only must the service maintain
unity, familiarity, and variety ; it must be dignified.
Dignity does not mean that it is to be "very solemn"
and "long-faced." On the contrary, it must be joy-
ous and bright, for we learn best when we are happy.
Dignity means that nothing must be used in the
service which is not worthy of use in the worship
of God. Songs with meaningless words written to
fit boisterous or jingling tunes (sometimes called
"holy ragtime"), "longwinded" and perfunctory
prayers, a blatant orchestra, personal anecdotes, do
not belong in a program of worship.
(d) Adaptation. — The final principle — which we
have already seen at work in the making of the cur-
riculum — is adaptation. The materials must be
selected with the worshiping group in view. Only
so can the pupils express themselves in worship.
Children must not be forced into the artificiality
of expressing as their own what are really adult
religious experiences. "A healthy boy does not 'long
to rise in the arms of faith/ and if he is sighing
for 'peace, perfect peace' he needs a doctor." 4 The
4 "The Modern Sunday School," Cope, page 97.
57
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
same attention given to the selection of the material
for the curriculum must also be used here. Care
must be taken that the words and phrases are under-
stood by the pupils. This can best be assured by
the teacher in the class. Before new hymns and
prayers are used, the teachers should be informed,
that pupils may have time to study and learn them.
Test the program of last Sunday's service in Sun-
day school and in church by these principles.
4. The Materials for Training in Worship. The
materials for training in worship may be divided
into five classes:
(a) The surroundings of worship. — The entire at-
mosphere and spirit of worship can be greatly helped
if the room in which the service is held is one which
promotes reverence. Wherever possible each depart-
ment should have a separate room for its service.
This room should be attractive and cheerful and,
if possible, beautiful. All appearance of disorder
should be avoided in the arrangement of the chairs,
the furnishings of the platform, and the general neat-
ness of the room. At intervals the school should
hold a service in the church auditorium itself, that
it may become more and more a center of worship
to the pupils as they approach a larger part in the
church's activity.
(&) Hymns and music afford a recognized source
of material. No large number of hymns is needed
for training in worship. They should be carefully
selected both as to music and words for the pupil's
use according to the principles of dignity and adapta-
tion. 5 Many of the great hymns of the church are
8 For lists see "The Church School," Atheam.
58
TRAINING IN WORSHIP
suitable for children, and acquaintance with them
will make the church service more meaningful for
the pupil. It will be wise usually to have them
explained in the classes and at least partly memo-
rized before being sung. The spirit of worship is
aided by singing the "Amen" at the end of hymns.
"Amen" may also be sung at the end of the Lord's
Prayer or of the benediction. Appropriate sentences
set to music and memorized are very satisfactory
for calls to worship, dedication of offerings, doxolo-
gies, and benedictions.
Sometimes some great masterpiece of religious
music can be played on the organ, in place of the
leader's talk, with good educational results. To
assist in leading the singing a carefully selected
church choir under competent leadership can be
formed in some schools. This should, however, not
be permitted to do the singing for the school and
displace the activity of the pupils as a whole. The
singing of the school itself should be hearty, but not
boisterous and not unnecessarily loud. Meaning is
more important than volume. Singing should be
competently led. Instrumental accompaniment,
whether piano, organ, or ochestra, must be well done
or omitted.
(c) Readings from the Scriptures may be properly
a part of the service— especially those portions of
the Bible, such as many of the Psalms, which are
adapted to worship. Selections should be carefully
made with the development of the pupils in mind.
On the whole, only such passages as can be read
responsively without spoiling the sense should be
so read. Narratives and other prose passages should
59
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
usually be read by the leader or some older pupil
or occasionally by the school in unison.
(d) Prayers and benedictions. — Almost every
adult who seeks to express to God the prayer of
children will fail unless careful preparation is made.
Adult phrases and ideas that are meaningless to a
pupil are likely to slip in. More important than the
leader's prayers are the prayers used by the school
or the department in unison. In addition to the
Lord's Prayer the church has many other fine short
prayers, one or two of which can be memorized by
the pupils from time to time and used in the service.
If the prayer is genuine and expressive of the united
desires of the school, the pupils will speedily make
it their own. Often short prayers can be composed
for the use of the school in this way. At times a
class can contribute to the worship service a prayer
that it has composed for its own use. Prayers should
generally be brief and always to the point. Sen-
tences used as calls to worship, responses, and bene-
dictions can be collected from the Scriptures and
from books of worship and said or sung.
(e) The final class of material consists of stories
and talks. These, again, should be carefully selected
and prepared beforehand, so that they may be used
by the leader without a hitch. In the story or talk
the leader has an opportunity to bring out more
clearly the central theme of the service and its con-
nection with the pupil's experience outside of the
service. For the younger pupils the story form is
generally satisfactory, though it need not always
be used. Stories can be drawn from the Bible, from
missionary and historical biography, from incidents
60
TRAINING IN WORSHIP
of modern life related in the newspapers, from nu-
merous children's story books, and from other
sources. They should be carefully adapted in length
and in vocabulary and should conform to the princi-
ples of the art of story-telling."
The wise leader will make a collection of stories
talks, hymns, music, prayers, psalms, calls to wor-
ship, responses, and benedictions, to which he will
constantly be adding. Each item in it will be labeled
to indicate its central thought or the attitude that
it expresses and the grades of pupils for whom it is
suited. He will then have a storehouse to which
he can turn in need. He should also keep a record
of each service, giving its order and its contents,
that he may know in planning future services just
what he has done in the past.
What materials for training in worship are used
m your school? What are not? Why?
5. Forming the Program of Worship.' I n forming
the program of worship the leader will be guided by
the principles of unity, familiarity, and variety. Let
us assume that he has a body of material from which
to draw, already selected on the basis of its dignitv
and adaptation. How is he to meet the requirements
ot the other principles?
The best way in which to achieve unity is to select
some central theme or attitude of mind about which
to organize the service. Such a method is usually
followed in the case of missionary, Thanksgiving,
Easter, and Christmas services, and should be at
phed t0 a11 the other programs of worship. Not
St.' i'ohT '° TeU St0ries t0 CM-tan," Bryant, and "Stories and Story Telling."
61
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
only the events of the church and the national year,
but many other central themes can be found. Dr.
Hartshorne suggests gratitude, good will (or love),
reverence, faith, and loyalty as the fundamental
Christian attitudes toward God and man about
which services may be planned, including those sug-
gested by the calendar. Selecting one of these, the
leader can readily draw from his collection two or
three hymns, a prayer, a responsive reading, and a
story or talk, perhaps also a call to worship and a
benediction, all of which express the attitude
selected. With them he can form a unified service
in which the cumulative effect of the different parts
will be of marked educational value. 7
The second problem of the leader is the mainte-
nance of a sense of familiarity and variety. Famil-
iarity can be obtained by keeping the elements of
the service in just the same order for several weeks
and using for part or all of the time the same call
to worship, the same unison prayer, the same bene-
diction, and the same Psalm. The hymns used should
frequently be repeated during the period while the
order is being retained. Few children — and few
grown people, for that matter — exhaust the meaning
of a hymn in using it half a dozen times, especially
if from time to time parts of it are discussed in
class. With this should be joined the use of the
same central theme for several successive services,
making a connected series possible and thus increas-
ing the cumulative effect — the more necessary be-
cause of the brevity and infrequency of the worship
7 Examples of such services will be found in "The Training of the Devo-
tional Life," Meyer and Kennedy, and "Manual for Training in Worship,"
Hartshorne.
62
TRAINING IN WORSHIP
period. If the order, the theme, the hymns, and
other parts of the service which have become familiar
are then dropped for a few months, a sense of both
familiarity and variety will result when they are
taken up again. This, of course, can be done only^
if a carefully dated record is kept of what is used
in the services.
Were the programs of worship of the past two of
three Sundays graded? In what respect?
6. The Leadership of Worship. All this careful
planning which the training of children in worship
requires and deserves because of its importance can
be done only by one adapted to the task and willing
to work hard. One whose personal appearance is
slovenly, voice harsh, manner unpleasant, and sense
of good workmanship deficient can hardly meet the
conditions. Most often the leadership in each de-
partment is taken by the superintendent of that de-
partment. In the Intermediate, Senior, and Young
People's Departments the responsibility for leader-
ship may often be properly put on the pupils them-
selves. Where these leaders have not had training
in the principles governing the conduct of worship,
the school should arrange for special conference and
instruction for them.
Many large schools have what are called "plat-
form superintendents." If they also supervise the
programs of worship in the various departments of
the school they might be designated as "supervisors"
or "directors of worship."
In cooperation with the officer in charge of wor-
ship should be all the teachers and officers. He or
the chosen leader should inform them two or three
63
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
weeks in advance of the order and contents of his
program, that they may have opportunity to explain
the order to the pupils if it is one not yet familiar,
to have such parts as require it memorized, and
their meaning made clear. Frequently after the serv-
ice the teacher, by discussion with the pupils, can
explain misunderstood phrases, bring out the rela-
tionship of some part of it to the pupil's experience,
and test the impression made by the service. In
this discussion the teacher will often be able to
bring before the class the subject of private prayer
and family devotions.
The wise leader will value highly the reports of
the teachers upon the effect of the services upon the
pupils. It is almost the only method he has for
testing his work. Many schools will find it worth
while to have a committee of the teaching staff on
worship to cooperate with the leader.
What training in habits of personal prayer is your
school providing?
Constructive Work
Take the program of worship for the last session of your
school and state how you would enrich it and make it
more effective.
Make out the programs for a series of three services
centering about the theme "good will" on the basis of the
principles and materials suggested above.
References
"The Training of the Devotional Life," Meyer and
Kennedy.
"Worship in the Sunday School," Hartshorne, Chapters
64
TRAINING IN WORSHIP
I, III IV, VII, VIII, IX; "Manual for Training in Wor-
ship," various sections.
x ^he Sunday School at Work," Paris (editor), Chapter
'Trinciples and Ideals for the Sunday School," Burton
and Mathews, Part II, Chapter VII.
"The Modern Sunday School," Cope, Chapter X.
65
CHAPTER VI
TRAINING EN CHRISTIAN CONDUCT
Make a list of the various kinds of things being done
by the several classes in your school. What connection
have these with the truth being taught. Are they such
and are they done in such a way as to develop Christian
character?
1. The Place of Expression in Religions Edncation.
In all education to-day large emphasis is given to
the necessity of self-expression. "Learn by doing"
i3 the much-repeated motto. Long before the modern
pedagogue emphasized the truth, Jesus stated the
principle in his fundamental and familiar words,
"If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of
the teaching."
In religious education expressional activity has a
double function. In the first place, the instruction
given must be made vivid in the mind of the learner
by some form of response, such as stating the truth
in answer to questions, telling a story, handwork,
dramatics, etc. Such expressional activities con-
stitute a part of the teaching process. But the truth
learned, if it is to have religious significance, must
pass over into life; and this calls for another form
of expression. The student must become by doing.
By practice the Christian truth must be converted
into Christian character. And the truth must be
66
TRAINING IN CONDUCT
expressed in two directions — toward God and toward
man — the one in worship and the other in conduct.
Teaching and worship have already been consid-
ered. We must now give attention to those activities
that serve to body forth the truth in conduct. The
task of the Sunday school is not ended when the
truth has been made real in the mind of the pupil,
nor when the spirit of reverence has been inculcated,
and the habit of worship formed. The Sunday school
must include within its scope the training of pupils
in Christian conduct. This justifies and demands
many forms of activity. But activities should be
selected for their character-forming value. The Sun-
day school is not an organization for promoting
athletics, raising the finances of the church, doing
the charity and social work of the community,
promoting temperance reforms, or carrying on mis-
sionary operations. These are all worthy ends and
may properly have a place in the Sunday school, but
they should be there not as ends but as means to
an end. They have their place in the Sunday school
for the purpose of training the pupils in Christlike
character and service.
Does your Sunday school, as a part of its work,
provide things for the pupils to do which have as
their definite purpose to transform the truth taught
into conduct?
2. Types of Activity. Among the several forms of
activity that serve to transform truth into charac-
ter one may mention recreation and play. Recrea-
tion has had some place in the Sunday-school
schedule, but largely as a drawing card — not as a
part of the educational work of the school. It re-
67
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
mains for the Sunday school to appreciate the char-
acter-making value of play in its many forms. This
it should be quick to do. Education, as has al-
ready been said, is largely through activity on the
part of the pupil. Couple with this the fact that
play is the normal, spontaneous activity of the child,
and it will lead at once to an appreciation of play
for the purpose of character building. And this con-
clusion emphasizes the importance of the Sunday
school's interesting itself in the play activities of
the children and young people and making these
serve the end of religious training. The playground
should be made the laboratory for vitalizing the
moral and religious principles taught in the class-
room, and the school and teacher that fail to make
this connection are losing one of the best oppor-
tunities for developing Christian character.
Passing to other forms of activity through which
the Sunday school can convert principle into prac-
tice, we may note, first, the giving of money. Sun-
day-school benevolence should be estimated not in
terms of the immediate financial returns but in its
effect upon the members of the school. The best plan
is not the one that gets the most money, but the one
that develops the most Christlike givers. It should
afford every pupil an opportunity to practice the
true Christian principles of giving and to practice
these in such a consistent and systematic way as to
form fixed habits of life. Such a system must empha-
size the true motive of giving. It must be the ex-
pression of a genuine, grateful, unselfish spirit. It
must cultivate generous, proportionate giving, allow-
ing the pupils to determine the amount of their
68
TRAINING IN CONDUCT
offering. It must practice the pupil in the wise
selection of the objects most worthy of their help.
It must accustom them to systematic, businesslike
methods of making their contributions. To teach the
pupils the true principles of benevolence without
providing for their proper expression through a
suitable financial system is to do a grave injustice
both to them and to the kingdom of God as a whole.
Again, there is a responsibility resting upon the
Sunday school to train the members in loyalty to the
church and to service in it. The cause of Christ is
to-day suffering seriously at this point. The church
is shorn of much of its rightful power because of the
multitudes who are professed followers of Christ
but who render little or no service to his cause. No-
where, perhaps, is there such an opportunity to train
loyal workers for the church as is to be found in
the Sunday school. Many lines of activity connected
with the organization and work of the class, both
during the recitation period and in midweek gather-
ings, may be used to develop loyal and efficient serv-
ice to the institution. A wider field of training in
such service is offered by the numerous and varied
activities necessary to the successful operation of
the school in its several departments. Thus, the
Sunday school, through manifold forms of effort,
should give to its pupils the opportunity to express
their loyalty to Christ in personal helpfulness in
the organized work of his kingdom. Let the pupils
learn to work together in a class organization, each
doing the task that falls to him from time to time;
have them share in the larger responsibilities of the
departmental organization and service; give them
69
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
duties to perform, as maturer age may justify, as
helpers in the work of the school ; see that they are
allowed to serve the church in such capacity as they
may be prepared for. Such training, continued
throughout the growing years, should furnish faith-
ful workers and leaders for all the departments of
church activity.
But the Sunday school cannot be content to de-
velop loyal churchmen, however efficient they may
be. It must assist its pupils to translate its teach-
ing of brotherhood into broad, brotherly conduct
and character. It must develop the social spirit by
encouraging and practicing social service. And for
such development the Sunday school has many
simple, practical opportunities. Acts of kindness
and protection to pets and animals are of value in
expressing and fixing a proper attitude toward these
lower creatures, and they are of service also in
helping to develop a more general social spirit.
Visiting the strangers, caring for the sick, feeding
the hungry, clothing the needy, helping the unfortu-
nate, doing the brother's part to everyone that needs
a brother — such activities furnish a fine field for ex-
pressing and thus developing a genuine social life.
In most communities and by most schools such serv-
ices may be rendered directly, and also indirectly
through cooperation with the various welfare agen-
cies. Each form of service has some advantages, and
each may well be used. Thus, so numerous and
varied are the opportunities that every class, every
individual member of the school, can share in such
socializing service.
Again, the Sunday school cannot be content not
7J
TRAINING IN CONDUCT
to cultivate in its members a positive and aggressive
missionary life. The sense of obligation to all the
world must be given the opportunity to express it-
self in world-wide service. This is to be done by the
utilization of missionary activities, which are, how-
ever, such activities as have already been discussed
properly interpreted and directed. Play activities,
giving of money, and personal service in many forms
may all be used for transforming the principles of
missions into missionary living. For example, mis-
sionary dramas and pageants appeal to the play in-
stinct and serve to cultivate a missionary attitude.
Benevolence intelligently directed by the members of
the school to missionary courses at home and abroad
will create interest and fix habits of conduct. Like-
wise, many forms of personal service rendered for
special missionary enterprises will serve to bind
those thus engaged more closely to the cause assisted.
To neglect such forms of activity is largely to fail
in developing a true missionary spirit and life.
Other types of activity may be used by the Sunday
school through which to guide the pupils in their
expression of Christian truth in every everyday liv-
ing. Indeed, there is no form of the daily conduct
that may not to some extent be made to serve this
purpose. Constant association with companions in
home and school and community furnishes innumer-
able opportunities. Our daily conduct in the various
relationships of life constitutes, after all, the best
test of Christian character. An offering to some good
cause, a kind deed to an unfortunate widow, or some
service to the cause of missions, beautiful as these
things are, will not take the place of a right attitude
71
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTKATION
to one's associates in home and school and the world
at large. The Sunday school should therefore seek
to guide its pupils in carrying over the teaching of
the class into their daily lives. This is much more
than the familiar "application" at the close of the
lesson. It means to point out in the daily life the
appropriate response to the truth taught and to en-
courage its practice until it has become habitual.
This is no doubt more difficult for the teacher than
other forms of expressional forms of activity, but
it surely is not impossible nor unimportant. Beli-
gion is not a small part of life ; it is life itself. So
the daily walk and conversation must be made the
field for turning truth into character.
To what extent is your school making those several
forms of activity serve the purpose of religious de-
velopment?
3. A Program of Activity. In endeavoring to form-
ulate a program of activity for the Sunday school
the same general principles must be applied as in
the case of the curriculum and the program of wor-
ship. That is to say, the needs of the growing life
must be the test. The question is not how much
money must be raised in order to enable the school
to make a good showing, nor what forms of service in
the Sunday school and church need to be done, nor
how many unfortunate families in the community
must be cared for, etc. These are important con-
siderations, but they lose sight of the educational
purpose of the Sunday school. The question to be
asked as a guide to the program of activity for the
school is, What forms of activity are best suited to
the needs of the particular pupil or groups? Unless
72
TRAINING IN CONDUCT
the activity undertaken is the expression of the real
self it fails to educate; indeed, it may turn out to
be very harmful. By giving a group of children
things to do in which they are not particularly in-
terested and for which they are not sufficiently pre-
pared there is danger of causing an unhealthy re-
action that will greatly retard their proper develop-
ment. The activities selected for each group must
be such as to allow the free, pleasurable expression
of their real selves.
In keeping with this general principle the activi-
ties of the Sunday school should be carefully graded
according to the ages and maturity of the pupils,
just as the course of study is graded. Indeed, the
course of study and the expressional activities are
two parts of the same educational process. They
must therefore be in accord. The activities should
be adapted to the truths taught. As the lessons
from grade to grade are arranged to meet the needs
of the growing person, so the program of activity
must furnish a channel of expressing these truths
in conduct. This does not mean, of course, that the
things given each grade to do are to be entirely dif-
ferent from those selected for other grades. It
simply means that they are to be graded in the same
way that the teaching material is graded. Love for
others may be taught to the little child and also
to the young man, but in different ways; so the
expression of this principle suggested for the little
child would certainly not be the same as that for
the young man.
This leads to the further suggestion that the ac-
tivities should be selected with reference to the great
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
Christian seasons, such as Thanksgiving, Christmas,
and Easter. Each has its own peculiar message and
makes its distinct appeal. There should be given
to each pupil an opportunity for an appropriate and
adequate response to the appeal made. In this way
the high days in the Christian calendar should be
made to serve the purpose of Christian education
rather than the occasion for the display of self-in-
dulgence, selfishness, or worldliness. In this way
there is afforded, also, an opportunity for desirable
variety in the activities of the school and at the
same time a no less desirable emphasis upon the
most essential qualities of Christian life.
Finally, it may be well to state definitely what
has already been implied in the foregoing paragraphs
— namely, that the activities selected for the several
grades and classes must be so related as to constitute
a unified program for the entire school. There must
be consistency, progress, unity throughout. Only
so can the program of activity provide the means
of a consistent, progressive development of the in-
dividual's religious life through the several stages
of growth up to maturity. To accomplish such well-
proportioned development it is very important that
the school as a whole should have a consistent pro-
gram of activity and not allow separate grades or
classes to select the things they wish to do entirely
apart from the rest of the school.
What the program should be in any given school
depends to a large degree on the local conditions.
While the principles in keeping with which the ac-
tivities must be selected are the same for all schools,
their application must be made in part by each
74
TRAINING IN CONDUCT
separate school. Therefore, a program of conduct
for schools in general can be suggested only in barest
outline.
In the Beginners' Department large emphasis may
be given to play activities ; games which have educa-
tional value may be taught, and the children may be
encouraged to play them during the week. Offerings
may be made for some object about which the chil-
dren know and in which they are made interested.
They may help to make the room beautiful by bring-
ing flowers and may help to send cards and other
reminders to absent and sick members. Pictures
may be cut out and scrapbooks made for children
in hospitals. Simple home duties may be suggested
and reports asked.
In the Primary and Junior Departments much the
same program may be followed, only the activities
may be broader. These children will be interested
in more advanced games. They may be asked to
report on the play activities of the week. Thus the
teacher will have an opportunity to commend the
better features and discourage those that are un-
desirable. The members of the class may assist the
teacher in making the room attractive and in pre-
paring material for the class hour. They may look
up the absent members and new members of the
class. Their contributions should be directed in a
way that will interest them and enlarge their in-
terest, while they are encouraged to make their own
money in simple service about their homes. The
care of pets and other animals, making scrapbooks
and other objects for those who are sick, helping to
care for some unfortunate child or friend, doing un-
75
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
selfish, helpful deeds for associates in home and
school, all are worthwhile avenues of service.
In the Intermediate and Senior Departments the
organization of the several classes furnishes an
opportunity for developing a sense of responsibility
and leadership. Competitive games with other
groups rightly directed may have great educational
value for moral and religious life as well as develop
a fine spirit of loyalty to the class and the Sunday
school. Simple plays and pageants may likewise be
found of great value. The young people may render
many services to the school and church as messengers
and assistants, in the music, in decorating, helping
to edit the weekly bulletin, and the like. More
advanced instruction should find expression in en-
larged giving. More responsibility should be placed
upon the members of the class for making their own
money and for selecting the object of their offerings.
Many forms of social service to the poor and the
stranger and to various worthy organizations are
to be found in every community. Objects should be
made and offerings given for definite mission fields
or causes. Encourage the practice of Christian truth
in the definite duties of home and school, and let
reports be made and discussed. The definite and
whole-hearted commitment of one's life to Christ
and his cause should be included in the program
of expression for this period.
The Young People's Department should provide
recreational and social activities in keeping with
the high principles taught in the class, that the
young people may live a happy, normal, Christian
life. They should enter fully into the various lines
76
TRAINING IN CONDUCT
of school and church activity. They can volunteer
as officers, ushers, and musicians in the services, they
can build up the attendance, do personal evangelis-
tic work, cooperate in the financial plans, etc. Many
of the young people, particularly the more capable
ones, should be led to take up the work of teaching
in the Sunday school as a field of great usefulness.
By pursuing a teacher-training course and by prac-
tice in teaching a class they should be made efficient
for the work. In the community life unlimited op-
portunities are afforded for the expression of the
Christ spirit. These should be studied, and selec-
tions made suitable to the several groups. The call
for workers in needy fields, at home and abroad,
should be kept before the young people and lead to
the dedication of life to Christian service in these
fields.
Has the school with which you are connected any
program of activity?
4. Directing the Activities. The importance of the
proper direction of the varied activities of the school
can scarcely be overestimated. Without this the re-
sults may be quite different from those desired. In-
stead of ministering to the harmonious development
of Christian character they may tend to onesidedness
and shallowness. There is danger, for example, that
such activities, because of the strong appeal they
make to children and young people, may tend to
divert attention from the course of study and to
some extent convert the school from its educational
task into an agency to amuse the pupils and to get
things done for the church. In connection with the
social-service activities of the school in particular
77
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
there is the further danger of developing a self-
righteous, professional, or snobbish attitude on the
part of those engaged in the work; or, through the
unwise giving of help to the needy, of weakening
the sense of self-respect of those assisted. Such
dangers can be avoided only by the careful selection
and supervision of the activities of the various
classes and grades.
The accomplishment of this as a part of the educa-
tional work of the school depends very largely on
the teachers of the several classes. The teacher must
appreciate and utilize the individual characteristics
of each pupil, but at the same time seek to develop
the group-consciousness of the class. He must make
the life of the class, as far as possible, a normal,
active, happy Christian experience. To do this he
cannot be content simply to meet and instruct his
class on Sunday morning, but throughout the week
must seek and find opportunities to share his life
with them and to partake with them of their experi-
ences.
Constructive Work
In keeping with the above discussion formulate for some
one department of your school a tentative program of
activity designed to train the students in Christian con-
duct.
78
CHAPTER VII
THE CLASS AND THE DEPARTMENT
Make a detailed list, in order, of everything that was
done in some Sunday-school class last Sunday, noting how
large a part the pupils had in the activity of the class.
1. Educational Opportunity in the Sunday-School
Class. The class is the center of the pupil's experi-
ence in the Sunday school. In it he can feel a
greater sense of personal proprietorship, and thus of
responsibility, than in any other part of the school.
"My class," "our class," are words of educational
value. For it is in learning the lessons of loyalty
and responsibility to the class that the larger les-
sons of loyalty to school and to church, to the com-
munity and to God, are learned. The pupil who, as
one of a group, gains a sense of fellowship in reli-
gion with his companions and who develops habits
of helpfulness and cooperation in the class will be-
come — is already — a useful citizen of the kingdom of
God. Thus, the life of the pupil as a member of the
class is one of the great educational opportunities
of the Sunday school. Furthermore, it is through
the class that the school is able to meet the needs
of the individual pupil. No two pupils are alike, and
no two will have just the same contribution to make
to the kingdom. The school must see that the in-
dividual abilities and interests of each pupil develop
79
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
in the direction of Christian usefulness, and that
problems of conduct which each pupil faces for him-
self have a Christian solution. It is thus in the class
that the final fitting of the materials and methods of
religious education to the pupils is made. It is in
the class that the religious growth of the individual
is guided.
Adequate equipment should be provided for the
work of the class. Coat racks, chairs, and tables of
the right size, maps, blackboards, pictures, and a
cupboard or cabinet in which to keep materials from
Sunday to Sunday are important.
Nothing should be permitted to interfere with the
legitimate work of the class. A length of time for
its session sufficient for it to accomplish its work
without hurry should be given. It should be pro-
tected from interruption. Where possible a separate
room should be provided ; and if this is not possible,
arrangements to shut out disturbing sights and
sounds and still provide light, air, and the right
temperature should be made. The class should not
be interrupted by a secretary's appearance in the
middle of the period, demanding the class records
and offering. These should be placed outside the
classroom, where he can collect them without bother-
ing the class. Similarly other officers, such as the
superintendent and the librarian, should not inter-
rupt the class by coming in with notices or with
business to be transacted. For purposes of super-
vision, of course, officers of the school may visit the
class, but this should be done without interruption
of the discussion. The teacher should usually be
notified beforehand of such visits and should feel
80
CLASS AND DEPARTMENT
free to postpone a visit if he thinks the progress of
the class will be hindered by it.
Are the conditions in which the classes work in
your Sunday school satisfactory?
2. The Work of a Sunday-School Class. In the three
chapters we have just finished we have studied the
threefold program of the school in instruction, in
worship, and in conduct. We must now see how
this program applies to the work of the Sunday
school itself, for it is in the class that each program
is in part carried out and that all are tested.
(a) The class and instruction. — As the matter of
instruction in the class has already been treated, 1
little need be said here save to emphasize the prin-
ciple that the lesson should be conducted as an
activity of the entire class. The entire group should
take part, and not simply the teacher and the pupil
to whom he may happen to be talking. Sometimes
the expressional activity that the lesson requires
may well take the form of a class enterprise, such as
the class notebook, "log," or "journal," in which
essays on characters or incidents studied, maps
made by the class, descriptions of class frolics, and
of the Christian service of the class, and the records
of the class secretary and treasurer may be included.
This may be part of an exhibit of the work of the
school at the end of the year.
Did you observe pupils who were not taking part
in the activities of their class last Sunday? Why
do you think they did not?
( 6 ) The class and worship. — We have already seen
that common worship is an activity for a larger
* Chapter IV.
81
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
group than the class. Although this is true, the
unity of the class as a religious group will be greatly
helped by the prayer at the opening or closing (or
both) of the class session. This prayer may be
offered by the teacher, by a pupil, or by all in unison.
Where the class is organized, the president or a
committee may be made responsible for leadership.
The individual pupil, who often feels embarrassed
if asked to lead in prayer, can be trained to lead
without fear if for a time a unison prayer is used,
or if the prayer is written and learned beforehand.
The class may adopt as its class prayer a prayer
already written or, better, may unite in composing
a prayer that will be even more its own because all
have shared in deciding what should go into it, and
because it is thus more certain to express the real
desires of the class. Moreover, the worship program
of the school will require in the class the discussion
and explanation of the orders of service, the meaning
of prayers and hymns, and the partial memorizing
of parts of the service. This all affords the teacher
an opportunity to guide the pupils in learning the
meaning of prayer and in helping to form habits of
private prayer at home. 2
(c) The social life and service of the class. — The
group spirit on which we have seen the cultivation of
Christian character depends can be brought out only
if those composing the group are well acquainted
with one another. Moreover, they must find the
group one in which other than exclusively religious
interests are considered, lest religion seem unrelated
to life outside the Sunday-school hour. The pupils
2 See "The Training of the Devotional Life," Meyer and Kennedy.
82
CLASS AND DEPARTMENT
must play together as well as worship and study to-
gether. This is important, also, because in play the
teacher has a chance to observe the spontaneous
activity of the pupils and to know them better. If
the pupils have elsewhere sufficient opportunity,
these playtimes need not be frequent. Otherwise the
school should make it a larger part of its ministry
to the life of the child and of the youth. For these
reasons, from time to time, opportunity will be given
to the class to play together in the ways most natural
to their age and sex, sometimes joining in the frolics
of a department or of the school as a whole.
Quite as important are the enterprises in Chris-
tian service which the class undertakes. A sugges-
tive program of such activities has been given in
Chapter VI. By these enterprises class unity is
developed, and in them both the class and its in-
dividual members can lose their selfishness in doing
something for others. As far as possible both re-
sponsibility and freedom of choice in these matters
should be put upon the pupils. A class treasury
should be kept, and the pupils should select the causes
to which its funds should go and the amounts each
should have. There is no great harm done if they
make mistakes in the use of the funds so long as
they profit by the experience, for in this way they
gain training for the larger community life.
(d) Conducting the class. — For each meeting of
the class the teacher will have made preparation in
advance besides actually studying the lesson. Maps
and pictures needed should be provided, and the
teachers should have in mind a program for each
session, even though it may have to be altered as the
83
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
work of the session goes on. A natural order would
be the class prayer, discussion of the service of wor-
ship and matters belonging to it, the lesson of the
day, special studies such as Bible drill and hand-
work, consideration of the Christian service of the
class. Not all these elements need appear in every
session. The wise teacher will not let the program
become stereotyped or formal. If the class is or-
ganized, the president may call it to order, lead (or
call on someone to lead) in the class prayer, ask for
reports of officers and committees, transact neces-
sary business rapidly, and then turn the class over
to the teacher. Or after the class prayer the teacher
may take charge at once.
In addition to the activities of the class which the
curriculum and the program of service call for there
are many ways in which the pupils can help in con-
ducting the class. In the class hour they can take
the collection, mark the attendance and tardiness,
and distribute books and papers. Outside the Sun-
day-school session they can hunt up absentees and
report on them, help them to make up back work, and
enlist new members.
Many classes are troubled by inattention and dis-
order. Attention and order are not to be had by
demanding them. The key to good order and sus-
tained attention is interest. If the pupils find the
work of the class interesting and moving steadily
from start to finish, there will be no trouble with
discipline. Pupils who are deficient in normal in-
terest often need special care. Occasionally this
will be found to be due to physical and mental
weakness. Frequently a pupil who because of lack
84
CLASS AND DEPARTMENT
of previous training seems bound to create disorder
can be made to feel the disapproval of the class or r
if he is a natural leader, may respond to responsi-
bilities assigned by the teacher.
Look over the record you have made of activities
of a class and decide how you would arrange it dif-
ferently in the light of this section.
3. The Organization of Classes. The value of free-
dom of choice and of the taking of responsibility in
class enterprises in the building of character has
already been emphasized. These can well be pro-
moted by class organization. By it not only does
the class achieve a sense of cohesion and dignity, but
the officers gain training in thoughtfulness, self-con-
trol, and leadership.
Before the later junior years there is not sufficient
cohesion between the pupils to make organization
helpful. At that period, however, simple organiza-
tion may be begun with the teacher as leader. All
classes of intermediate grade or above should be
organized. The younger the class, the simpler should
be the organization, and the more frequently the
officers should change. For the juniors president,
secretary, and treasurer are sufficient, and new
officers should be chosen each quarter. In the Young
People's Department, on the other hand, the classes
may have president, vice president, secretary, and
treasurer, and such standing committees as mem-
bership, service, and recreation, with elections held
annually. The organization of the Boy Scouts or
the Camp Fire Girls and similar societies may be
fitted effectively into the intermediate and senior
classes. Particular care in any case should be taken
85
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
to avoid committees or officers that perform no use-
ful service and provide only an artificial honor. It
is better to detail special duties to a temporary com-
mittee that can do its work and then be discharged
than to have several inactive committees burdening
the organization.
A council of class presidents or of class officers
of the school may be useful in maintaining school
discipline, in developing a healthy school spirit, and
in furthering the general interests of the school.
The organized adult class has special opportunities
for becoming a large factor in recruiting for the
adult membership of the church, in personal evan-
gelism, and in community service. Care must be
taken that its program is educational as well as
inspirational and social, and that it does not plan
its program without recognition of the work of the
other school and church agencies.
How many and what classes in your school are
organized ? Specify some ways in which use is made
of the organization.
4. The Relation of the Teacher to the Class. The
significance of the Christian influence of the teacher
in the class was indicated in Chapter II, in which
we saw the power of the "suggestions" made by the
character of those about the pupil. It is thus very
important that the atmosphere of the class be as
natural as possible. Within the class the teacher
should be a friendly, experienced comrade entering
into the interests and activities of the class as a
member of it rather than as a preceptor outside of
it. Only when necessary for purposes of discipline
should authority be used, for the wise teacher will
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CLASS AND DEPARTMENT
seek to lead rather than to drive. Moreover, by
taking the spirit of a member of the class the teacher
can develop loyalty to the class and the school rather
than to himself. An overstrong personal attachment
to the teacher often makes the pupil purely an
imitator, creates cliques, and causes trouble when
pupils have to be transferred to other classes. Even
more seriously, it may block the whole aim of the
school by substituting devotion to a teacher for de-
votion to Christ himself.
5. The Work of the Departments. 3 In a real sense
the work and life of any department is much more
than the sum of the work and life of all its classes.
For while the program of instruction, as we have
called it, is carried out chiefly in the classes, the
program of worship is distinctly a departmental
activity, and the program of service and recreation
may and often should be very largely so. Moreover,
as has already been indicated in other chapters, the
departments will differ from one another not only
in the contents of the programs of worship and of
service and recreation but also in the manner in
which they are carried out.
(a) In the Beginners' Department, for example, a
particular order of work for the department is made
necessary by the fact that long attention to any one
thing is not possible in young children of that age.
Wiggly limbs must have exercise. Little fingers tire
of long-continued handwork. Stories must be in-
terpreted by imitative action. Furthermore, the
children are not at the point where loyalty or in-
3 See also the "nurture" chapters in "Life in the Making," in this series, in
which departmental programs are given.
8T
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
terest in their class as distinct from other classes
appeals to them. Enterprises undertaken in other
departments by the class will here accordingly be-
long to the department. The detailed work of the
class groups in story-telling or circle talks each Sun-
day will also be carefully planned for the depart-
ment as a unit.
Finally, children of this age are dependent on
close personal attention in many respects in which
older pupils are more self-reliant. For this reason
in a small department the effective organization
often consists of one teacher and several assistants
who can guide the children in following the teacher's
leadership. In a large department each class teacher
may need one or more assistants.
(6) In the Primary and Junior Departments a dif-
ferent situation exists. The active leadership of the
superintendent of the department in worship and in
forming the program of activities is still necessary,
but a larger place can be given to independent sug-
gestion and the exercise of judgment and decision
on the part of the pupils. The beginnings of class
organization may take place in the later junior years,
but the executive responsibility still needs to rest
upon the superintendent and teachers. Thus, the
organization of the department with a superintend-
ent in executive charge of the whole and with the
teachers each responsible for a definite class unit
continues. Here, however, the immediate relation
of the program of worship or service of the depart-
ment to the class lesson is less important. Some
enterprises of service or recreation may be distinctly
class enterprises; others may be department enter-
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CLASS AND DEPARTMENT
prises, in which some or all of the classes have a
share.
(c) In the Intermediate, Senior, and Young Peo-
ple's Departments the ability of the students to carry
responsibility and exercise initiative and their need
for such training make wise a different arrangement
of work. Here, as before, the teachers carry on the
class instruction, but in the formation and execution
of the programs of worship and service their part is
that of counselors rather than of executive officers.
Not only should the officers of the classes be students,
but the officers of the departments — president, vice
president, secretary, and treasurer — should be stu-
dents chosen by the ballots of their fellows. Under
the direction of the president and vice president and
with the aid of the counselor-superintendent, com-
mittees on program, on service, and on recreation
will work out the plans for the department. The
committee on program will decide upon the order
of the worship service, select those who are to con-
duct it, and be responsible for its success.
Such a committee by its very nature will insure
the adaptation of the program to the students' in-
terests and needs. Similar work will be done by the
committee on service and on recreation. When
necessary special committees may be appointed for
special needs. Officers in the Intermediate and
Senior Departments should be elected every half
year ; in the Young People's Department once a year.
It thus appears that the activities of the depart-
ments of the Sunday school become more and more
the self-initiated, responsible activities of the pupils
themselves. This is as it should be, for freedom and
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ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
responsibility together are the greatest forces for
molding character. When this freedom and this re-
sponsibility are used — as they are in the Sunday
school — for the worship of God and the service of
men, it is Christian character of the highest type
that is being formed.
Constructive Work
Review your account of what was done in last Sunday's
class so as to show just how it could have been ideal. Do
not hesitate to put down details.
References
"The Modern Sunday School," Cope, Chapter XI.
"Life in the Making," Barclay, Brown, et ah, Chapters V,
XIV, XVII, XX, XXIII.
"The Training of the Devotional Life," Meyer and Ken-
nedy, Chapters X, XI, XII.
90
CHAPTER VIII
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL IN SESSION
Recall to mind the several phases of your Sunday-school
session, the preparation made for it, the character of the
program, the way the program is conducted. Do you think
the session is well adapted to the purpose set forth in
Chapter II?
1. The Time for the Session. The Sunday school
is ordinarily held just before the morning church
service, just after the service, or on Sunday after-
noon. Each hour has some advantages and some
disadvantages. The early morning hour, for ex-
ample, interferes with the Sunday morning rest and
sleep that many greatly desire ; but it finds the mem-
bers of the school naturally more alive and better
prepared for work. The hour after church does not
disturb the morning's repose, but is too limited in
time and is uncomfortably close to the dinner hour
and it finds the pupil mentally fatigued. The after-
noon period gives more time for the session, but has
to contend against strongly intrenched social and
domestic customs and crowds the Sabbath day with
services — morning, afternoon, and night. On the
whole the early-morning period is much to be pre-
ferred.
2. Preparation for the Session. Proper preparation
for the Sunday-school session is a matter of great
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ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
moment, and one in which everyone connected with
the school, from sexton to superintendent, is inter-
ested. Often a service is robbed of its value because
the conditions are not favorable. The wise Sunday-
school worker will therefore take care to see that
all the conditions bearing in any way upon the serv-
ice are such as to minister to its success.
Attention must be given before the session be-
gins to the physical surroundings. The rooms should
be supplied with abundance of fresh air. The
temperature should be regulated so as not to make
the attendants uncomfortably hot or cold. If the
rooms for any reason are dark, the lights should be
turned on in order to make them more cheerful and
inviting. If the clock is not correct, see that it is
regulated; let the chairs all be in place; have the
books and other materials of worship or teaching
properly distributed; see that the maps and black-
boards are ready for use. Let everything be done
that can be done to make the surroundings attrac-
tive and comfortable. And let it be done before
the session begins, avoiding all unnecessary inter-
ruptions and confusion.
The physical conditions may all be perfect, yet
the session prove to be far from successful. More
important than the position of the chairs is the atti-
tude of the people. There must be a true Sunday-
school spirit, an appreciation of the meaning and
worth of the school, an enthusiastic desire to have
a part in its work. And this spirit must find ex-
pression in regularity and punctuality of attendance
and a reverent attitude of mind. Unless the mem-
bers of the school are present on time and ready
92
SUNDAY-SCHOOL SESSION
to enter heartily into the service, the session will
fall short of its purpose. It is particularly impor-
tant for every officer and teacher to be present and
in place before time for the school to open. With the
example of officers and teachers, with a proper effort
in building up the school ideal and spirit and in
obtaining the cooperation of the home, it will be
possible to secure such attendance as to make easy
the right kind of school session.
One other condition essential to a successful ses-
sion must be mentioned — a well-prepared program.
All the surroundings may be in readiness, and the
members of the school in place with a true Sunday-
school spirit; but if the program has not been
properly prepared, the session will lack value. This
is ordinarily the duty of the superintendent or of
the departmental superintendent, as the case may
be. He has no more important responsibility. Every
detail of the program should be most carefully
planned, and everyone who is to take part should
be made acquainted with what is expected of him.
The preparation of the program should not be left
until late in the week. Indeed, much will be gained
in making arrangements, at least in outline, weeks
ahead. This will give consistency and a fine ac-
cumulative effect to the Sunday-school sessions.
Are the conditions prevailing in your Sunday
school conducive to a successful session?
3. The Character of the Program. In Chapter III
reasons were given for the departmental grouping
of the pupils in the Sunday school. These reasons
make it desirable that the Sunday-school session
shall be held by departments. The earlier practice
93
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
of having the entire school assemble together for
worship and separate into small groups for instruc-
tion has given place to the conviction that the prin-
ciple of grading must be applied not only to instruc-
tion but to all the phases of Sunday-school effort.
It is only by the departmental session that the needs
of the several groups can be satisfactorily met.
While, therefore, on special occasions the Sunday
school may meet as a whole and so cultivate the
enthusiasm and spirit of the larger group, as a usual
thing, where it is at all practicable, the Sunday
school should assemble by departments and each de-
partment have its own program.
In keeping with the purpose and work of the school
the program will be made up very largely of wor-
ship, instruction, and expressional activities. Since,
however, we are dealing with an institution with
varied interest, poorly understood and appreciated,
there must of necessity be some time devoted to
matters essential to its administration and develop-
ment, such as announcements, reports, inspirational
suggestions, and the like. Most of the matters of
an administrative nature may be handled in the
workers' council ; but, even so, a few moments of the
Sunday's session will usually be needed and may be
used to advantage in giving the members a more
adequate conception of the work of the school and
inspiring them with a proper school spirit. All ir-
relevant and unimportant matters should of course
be rigidly excluded.
In arranging the program the amount of time al-
lotted to each of the several elements — worship, in-
struction, expressional activities, informational and
94
SUNDAY-SCHOOL SESSION
inspirational items relating to the school or depart-
ment — will vary according to the particular depart-
ment, the occasion, the special purpose in mind, and
so on. Likewise, the order in which the several ele-
ments of the program are arranged will vary. A
stereotyped form of service is not desirable. Variety
and freshness will add greatly to the value of the
program. Perhaps a good general order would be:
first, a few minutes for informational and inspira-
tional items relating to the department or school;
second, a brief period for worship; third, a period
for class instruction; and finally, a period for ex-
pressional activities. Or it may be better to begin
the program with worship and let the items of in-
terest regarding the department come at the close.
Grouping such items as pertain to the life and work
of the organization at the beginning of the program
will be open to the objection that many of the pupils
will not be present, but it will perhaps stimulate
punctuality and at the same time save the worship
from unnecessary and fatal interruptions. The par-
ticular order is not the matter of greatest moment
— this will be determined, as already suggested, by
circumstances. It is, however, extremely important
that the session should be unified and progressive
throughout. The several items of the program should
therefore be carefully grouped and not thrown to-
gether in a haphazard way.
If the size of the school, the character of the
building, or any other factor makes it impossible
for all of the departments to assemble separately,
some combination of departments will be necessary.
It is of the greatest importance for the beginners
95
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
to meet by themselves and even in the very small
schools this is usually possible if its importance is
fully appreciated. Whatever departments compose
the assembly the program will need to be worked out
on the same general principles. The following
grouping of the several items is one way of gaining
unity and progress in the program. It is simply
illustrative :
A. The Assembly Period.
1. A few moments devoted to the interest of the school
(five to ten minutes) :
(a) Signal for quiet. This may be the closing of a
brief musical selection, or a chord struck on the
piano.
(&) School standing together and repeating in con-
cert some sentiment designed to inspire enthusi-
asm, fix standards of work, or develop school
spirit. Examples: "Every member present on
time every Sunday." "The soul of culture is the
culture of the soul." "It is better to form than
to reform." Instead of the school as a whole
there may be a call for the officers and teachers
or for some class to stand and repeat the school
motto or other helpful sentiment.
(c) Singing a verse or two of some hymn, school
standing. This is mainly for its inspirational
value.
(d) Brief remarks by the superintendent, reports, or
some other features tending to build up the
ideals and spirit of the school. This should be
varied from Sunday to Sunday and always in-
teresting.
(e) Announcements so far as necessary. Let these
be brief and pointed.
(/) Transition to worship. This may be, for ex-
ample, the repetition by the school in concert of
96
SUNDAY-SCHOOL SESSION
some call to worship, such as "0 come, let us
worship before the Lord our Maker," or a brief,
quiet, devotional interlude on the piano, or some-
thing else of the same type.
2. Worship (twenty minutes). For discussion and pro-
gram see Chapter V.
B. The Class Period.
1. Instruction (thirty to forty minutes). See Chapters
IV and VII.
2. Expressional activities (fifteen to twenty minutes).
See Chapters IV, VI, and VII.
C. Recess (five to ten minutes). With proper facilities in
buildings and grounds and with wise supervision this
period may perhaps be made to have real educational
value as well as encourage attendance upon the church
service.
Could any of the suggestions in this paragraph be
used to advantage in your school?
4. Conducting the Program. The importance of
good order during the session cannot be too strongly
insisted upon. Charged as the Sunday school is
with the development of religious life, the very order
and atmosphere of its session should be such as to
inspire high ideals and form correct habits of con-
duct. Instead of developing Christian character
there is danger that it will encourage the thought
that the religious life is a thing of low ideals and
easy habits. This must not be. The Sunday school
must not, by tolerating disorder, become a training
school for indifference and irreverence. If the public
school requires and seeks to foster regularity, punc-
tuality, fidelity, responsibility, respect, reverence,
and such fundamental habits of character, surely the
Sunday school cannot do less. But if it is to measure
97
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
up to its high calling as a school of Christian char-
acter it must insistently demand and industriously
encourage good order.
The suggestions already made will go far toward
solving the problem of good order; proper attention
to the physical surroundings, the cultivation of a
high ideal, the development of a hearty school spirit,
the careful preparation of the program, are all in-
dispensable conditions. But in addition to these
much depends also on the way the program is carried
out.
Suggestions as to conducting the program. — (1)
Begin on time. A proper program should hold up
the ideal of punctuality ; the program properly con-
ducted should fix the habit. (2) Let the program
move on a fixed schedule. Do not loaf or drift.
(3) Eliminate as far as possible the passing to and
fro of pupils, teachers, and officers during the pro-
gram. The right kind of preparation will make
most of this unnecessary. (4) Let the signals used
be simple and dignified ; have them well understood ;
require a hearty and concerted response. (5) in
passing back and forth from assembly to class let
the school move in a dignified, orderly way. Do not
struggle from one thing to another. (6) Reduce all
details, such as securing and making reports, caring
for visitors, etc., to system and do not let such items
intrude unnecessarily into the program. (7) In-
dividual violations of good order on the part of
pupils, officers, or teachers should be corrected,
ordinarily by personal, private word.
Is your department or school conducted in such
a way as to minister to character building?
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SUNDAY-SCHOOL SESSION
5. Special Days in the Sunday School. Certain days
in the Sunday-school calendar will call for special
preparation and a special program. The following
are some of the more important: (1) Bally Day.
Usually held in September, it is the time for re-
cruiting old and new members and making ready for
the work of the new school year. It should be held
before the first Sunday in October, when the school
year begins in the graded work. (2) Thanksgiving
— observed on the Sunday preceding or following
Thanksgiving Day and made the occasion for special
expressions of gratitude to God. (3) Christmas.
This provides the best opportunity for developing
the spirit of love. The service should be such as will
teach the school that it is more blessed to give than
to receive, and also that the gift without the giver
is unchristian. (4) Decision Day. Theoretically
every pupil should have his own Decision Day and
not be expected to conform to the calendar. Prac-
tically, however, it has been found helpful to set
apart a special day each year, usually on Palm
Sunday, at which time the pupils are given an
opportunity to make a decision for Christ. The day
should be made significant not only to those who
have not definitely accepted Christ but to those who
have already begun the Christian life. This may
be done by making it the occasion for a new be-
ginning in the Christian life or a consecration to
definite Christian service, such as the ministry or
mission work. The day should be carefully pre-
pared for by prayer and teaching and personal in-
terviews. (5) Easter, another high day in the
calendar, should be observed as a day of new life.
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ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
Following Decision Day, it is a fitting time for the
pupils who have decided for Christ to unite with the
church. (6) Children's Day — ordinarily observed in
May or June; one of the most popular and interest-
ing of the special days. (7) Promotion Day — ob-
served usually the last Sunday in September. This
is one of the most important occasions of the Sun-
day-school calendar and should be made much of.
As the name indicates, it is the time for the proper
promotion exercises in transferring pupils from one
grade or department to another. It should be so
conducted as to magnify the importance of progress
in religious knowledge and character. Particular
emphasis should be given to the graduation of those
who complete the full graded course of a depart-
ment.
The observance of special days may be of great
value. It offers a fitting opportunity to bring the
whole school together and develop a hearty school
spirit. It gives appropriate place to certain impor-
tant phases of the Sunday-school work. It empha-
sizes and interprets some of the most significant of
the Christian high days. But care and discretion
must be exercised; otherwise the educational work
of the school may be hindered. Special days should
not be too frequent, should be carefully selected and
judiciously distributed at reasonable intervals, thus
forming a consistent and purposeful schedule for
the year. Special occasions must be thought of as
something not apart from but a part of the regular
work of the school. They must therefore be observed
at such times and in such ways as will promote the
school's great purpose.
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SUNDAY-SCHOOL SESSION
What is the purpose and effect of the special days
observed in your school ?
Constructive Work
In the light of the foregoing discussion let members of
the school visit various departmental sessions and report
on what features seem to meet the needs of the pupils and
what features seem to fail in this.
References
"Organization and Administration of the Church School,"
Athearn, Chapters VI, VIII.
"The Modern Sunday School and Its Present-Day Task,"
Cope, Chapter XV.
101
CHAPTER IX
SUPERVISING THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
Make a list of all the officers of your school and the
duties of each. To whom is each responsible?
Find out what records of pupils your school keeps and
what use is made of them,
1. What Supervision Is. The old adage "Two heads
are better than one" is true in Sunday-school work.
It is a cooperative enterprise in which all must work
together. Each worker has his own responsibility,
which he, and he alone, can discharge, yet each is
also responsible for helping the others. Supervision
is necessary that all parts of the work may be
closely correlated, that nothing may be left undone
that should be done, and that the policies decided on
by the school may be successfully carried out.
Supervision is nothing else than wise helpfulness.
The work of a supervisor is (1) to know just what
results are sought in each part of the school for
which he is responsible and how they can be secured,
and (2) to help each worker to accomplish his part
in getting those results. A supervisor must thus
be constantly studying the principles and processes
of religious education and the special methods which
apply to his field of work. He will also be steadily
observing his own school, testing it, planning for it,
and helping those working with him to see their
problems more clearly and to solve them success-
fully. All the supervisors must also possess a com-
102
SUNDAY SCHOOL SUPERVISION
mon understanding of the program of the school,
that each may relate his work properly to that of
the others.
2. Supervising the Educational Process. We have
seen the way in which the pupils are grouped in
grades and the threefold process of their religious
education. To insure success in carrying out the
program of instruction, worship, and conduct ade-
quate supervision must be provided.
(a) The supervision of grading. — In order that
new pupils may be properly graded, some officer of
the school should be selected to whom every new
pupil should be sent for assignment to the right
class. This officer will see that the enrollment record
is made out correctly and should assign the pupil
according to the principles laid down in Chapter
III. He should also be responsible for regrading any
pupils already enrolled who may need it. His special
field of investigation will naturally be child study.
For this reason he will be constantly observing the
membership of the school, tracing the progress of
individual pupils, supervising the process of pro-
motion, and advising the teachers about abnormal
or difficult pupils. He may also give special atten-
tion to the church membership of pupils and to the
problems set by those who drop out of the school.
The officer selected for the work may be the super-
intendent, the secretary, or a department principal.
In a large school a separate officer should be pro-
vided who may be known as "supervisor of grading,"
"enrollment secretary," or "secretary of classifica-
tion."
(6) Supervising instruction.— The success of the
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ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
teaching process in the school should be constantly
watched and tested. The adaptation of the cur-
riculum to the pupils and the improvement of teach-
ing methods should be frequently considered, and
changes made in the interests of better results. This
supervision may be done by conferences with the
teachers or with a single teacher upon the difficulties
of the work. Periodically each class may be visited
by a supervisor who, while in the class, simply ob-
serves, later conferring with the teacher. Such
visits will be welcomed if notice is given beforehand
and if the supervisor is really helpful, commending
work well done and tactfully showing ways of im-
provement. It will be worth while from time to time
to give teachers an opportunity to observe good
teaching in some other church or day school and com-
pare notes on it. The work of a department princi-
pal is largely that of supervising teaching, and the
departmental teachers' meeting should be devoted to
discussions of the work. In addition to supervision
by departmental principals there should also be
supervision of the instructional work of the school
as a whole. This may be done by the superintend-
ent, by a committee of the teachers, or preferably by
a separate officer appointed to it and known as
"supervisor of instruction." Such an officer will
specialize in understanding the materials and
methods of instruction and in becoming an expert
observer of teaching. With the supervision of in-
struction should also go the supervision of the
teacher-training program of the school, involving on
the one hand the thorough training of those already
teaching, and on the other the training of young
104
SUNDAY SCHOOL SUPERVISION
people for special usefulness in the Sunday school
and church. No part of the work of a supervisor of
instruction is more important than this.
(c) The supervision of worship. — The whole pro-
gram of worship and of instruction in worship for
the school should be carefully supervised. If the
general or departmental superintendent conducts
the services, a committee of the teachers may co-
operate with him in supervising it, for he will need
to have the results of his program and methods tested
and discussed by the teachers. In a large school,
with separate services by departments, the superin-
tendent or a special officer known as "supervisor of
worship" should be detailed to oversee the entire pro-
gram of training in worship. The qualifications of
such a leader have been indicated in Chapter V.
He should cooperate with the supervisor of instruc-
tion in providing for training of leaders of worship
wherever necessary.
(d) The supervision of recreation and service. — It
has been seen that with many classes in the school
seeking to render community and missionary service
and needing opportunities for recreation the corre-
lation of these activities is important. In a small
school this may be worked out by the teachers all
together, and its execution supervised by the super-
intendent. In a larger school a committee of teachers
and the superintendent or a special officer called
"supervisor of recreation and service" may handle
the work. 1 Supervision should be exercised in such
a way as to encourage and develop, never to dis-
1 Such an officer may well be identical with the chairman of the Sunday-
school missionary society provided in the Discipline of the Methodist Epis-
copal Church and of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
105
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
courage, pupil initiative. The latter should see that
the educational aim of the activity is distinctly
preserved.
Who is responsible in your school for these parts
of supervision?
3. Departmental Officers. Whether special officers
for each of the last three posts of supervision are
provided or not, each department having specific
problems of its own will need to have its own super-
vision.
In the Beginners' Department a superintendent, a
secretary, and a pianist will be needed. The super-
intendent, unless the department is unusually large,
will be a teacher. Frequently such a teacher-super-
intendent, with assistant workers, will be found to
constitute a sufficient organization, the workers being
in training for teaching responsibilities.
In the Primary and Junior Departments a super-
intendent, secretary, and pianist will usually be
sufficient in addition to the teaching force. In the
Intermediate, Senior, and Young People's Depart-
ments the superintendent is less of an executive
officer and is primarily the counselor of the student
officers elected by the department. Nevertheless, he
is also responsible for supervision of the teaching
force and the coordination of the department with
the rest of the school. The secretary and treasurer
of the department are provided for by the student
officers and form the connecting link between the
class treasurer and the school secretary and treas-
urer.
In every department the superintendent will study
pupil nature, the curriculum, and teaching method
106
SUNDAY SCHOOL SUPERVISION
as they apply to pupils of that department. In the
Beginners', Primary, and Junior Departments the
superintendent is also usually the leader of worship.
In such cases he or she should have the qualifications
for this work, and the principles of training in wor-
ship must be observed.
In all departments the superintendents should
have direct supervision over the detailed work of
the department and be held responsible for it.
Where changes are proposed which affect only the
work of the department they may be determined upon
by the superintendent and the teachers of the de-
partment. If, however, they affect the general work
of the school they should be referred to the general
superintendent or through him to the Sunday-school
board or workers' council. The department super-
intendents may make nominations of teachers, but
the final appointment should be left to the board.
Departmental superintendents will be especially
alert to provide opportunities for specialized train-
ing of their teachers and workers and should make
suggestions for such when needed to the supervisor
of instruction.
4. Records and Reports: the Secretary. Success in
the work of the Sunday school and in efforts to im-
prove it can result only from a knowledge of the
actual conditions of the school. Plans must be
based upon facts, and their results tested by other
facts. For this reason records and reports are of
great value in the Sunday school and when carefully
kept and skillfully used they much increase its
efficiency. In the main four types of records are
needed :
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OKGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
(a) Records of actions of the board and of policies
of the school. — These usually appear in the minutes
of meetings. The secretary should promptly inform
teachers who are not present of actions that affect
their work. A record of policies is important. Fre-
quently officers and teachers agree to try some ex-
periment or to make some change, and through
neglect it is forgotten or untested, and the school
suffers. A record of policies serves as the memory
of the school. It does more : The necessity of record-
ing a policy puts a requirement of definiteness upon
its formation. It should be put in concrete terms,
and the officers responsible for carrying it out should
be named in the record. The superintendent and the
secretary should be regularly checking up the list
of policies or the worked-out program of the school
to see that they are being carried out.
(b) Records of individual pupils. — The successful
school, especially if it is large, must have a method
of keeping track of individual pupils. Each pupil
as he enters the school should be registered on a
card or a loose-leaf sheet upon which will be written
these items: name, address, names and address
of parents (or guardian), church membership of
parents and pupil (separately), date of birth, date
of baptism, date of entering Sunday school, date of
public profession of Christ, date of church member-
ship, years of attendance elsewhere. As the pupil
is promoted in the school, record of dates and grades
will be made on the card, and a statement indicating
attendance and proficiency for the year added. If
he leaves the school, the date and the cause and the
school to which he goes will be noted. It will thus
108
SUNDAY SCHOOL SUPERVISION
be possible for each new teacher to learn easily many
of the items he needs to know about the individual
pupil. These records will be filed by classes, and
every change in the membership of classes will be
followed by an appropriate change in the records and
filing. A separate card list giving name, address,
and present grade of each pupil in alphabetical order
will be kept as a convenient index to the main list.
These records form part of the basis of further
records for the whole school.
(c) Class records. — For each class a card should
be provided upon which the names of the pupils are
listed, with spaces for marking attendance and
promptness of each pupil each Sunday. This should
be marked by the teacher or the class secretary and
placed with the offering (if made during the class
period) where the general secretary can get it with-
out disturbing the class. If the class is organized,
the treasurer should keep an account of receipts and
expenditures. The only other class record needed is
of the activity of the class in recreation and service.
This may be kept by the teacher or in an organized
class as a part of the minutes of the class or of the
"class notebook." Such a record serves the teacher
in guiding the activities of the class for another
year.
(d) General records for testing the condition of
the school. — On or after each Sunday, on the basis
of the registration file (or the previous Sunday's
record) and the class attendance cards, the secre-
tary will fill out a report showing enrollment for
the previous Sunday, number of new pupils admitted
and number dismissed, actual enrollment for the
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OKGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
day, attendance by classes and departments, tardi-
ness by classes and departments, number of officers
and teachers enrolled and present, condition of the
weather, and special events. From these records can
easily be determined where in the school absence and
tardiness are most prevalent. Thus is discovered a
place where improvement should be made. Let us
suppose that the school decides to attain a better
attendance of pupils already enrolled. The secre-
tary will first, on the basis of the records for the
previous year, determine the percentage of attend-
ance to enrollment for that year for the whole school
and for the departments (average attendance for
the year divided by the average enrollment) . Classes
or departments with a low percentage show need
of special attention. With this information the
school decides upon a program for remedying the
condition. This may involve the following items:
making sure that the instruction is fresh and in-
teresting to the pupils, enlisting the cooperation of
parents, and following up every absence to determine
its cause and regain the pupil. A record of the
cause of every absence should be kept, from which
the chief causes which are keeping pupils away can
be determined. Special attention should be given
to their removal. This following up of absentees
should be a regular part of the work of the school.
It may be done through the teachers and classes, but
should be supervised by the secretary, who will in-
sist on every reasonable effort to make it complete. 2
2 "Campaigns" and competitions for increasing attendance are usually unwise
as the regular work of the school is usually disturbed, and the ambition of
"beating the other class" obscures worthier motives and sets forward an
artificial incentive for attendance. Such campaigns are usually followed by
a relapse. It is better to "make haste slowly.
110
SUNDAY SCHOOL SUPERVISION
By watching his records and computing the per-
centages from time to time the secretary can see
just what the effect of these measures is and so guide
further action. At the end of the year the final
figures can be compared with those of the previous
year, and the total progress of the school in this
respect indicated. A similar method may be pursued
in the case of tardiness. Records should also be
made of every withdrawal, and a statement periodi-
cally prepared showing distribution of the with-
drawals by grade and by cause. The school will
then know in what part it is failing to hold its
pupils and why. Another matter in which the school
should be tested is the church membership of its
pupils. From the records on the registration cards
a statement of the distribution of church member-
ship in the school by grades should be compiled at
regular intervals. If the number of church mem-
bers steadily increases from grade to grade through
the Intermediate, Senior, and Young People's De-
partments to the point where all the pupils in a
grade are church members, the school is succeeding
in this part of its work.
In addition to these records a large school should
keep for handy reference a file of teacher's registra-
tion cards, on which are shown the name, address,
telephone number, general education, special train-
ing in religious education, and teaching positions.
A similar list of prospective teachers should be kept,
from which vacancies may be filled. Annual re-
ports made in writing by each teacher and officer
in the school are often helpful. In the case of the
teacher this should include a record of the work
111
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
of the class and its activities, comments on the de-
velopment of the individual pupils, and suggestions
for improvement. A new teacher who takes this
class as it is promoted can then know better how
to guide its growth.
For keeping such records as these many publishing
houses have put systems on the market. Frequently
a school designs its own system and has the cards
or loose leaves printed. In any case care must be
taken to see that the system is definitely suited to
the needs of the school, being adequate without being
cumbersome, and that it is so arranged as to require
no more labor than is necessary for the result
sought.
The secretary of the school should be one who finds
statistical work not unpleasant but fascinating, and
who will not only keep the records but learn how
to use them in improving the work of the school.
It need hardly be said that neatness, accuracy, and
fidelity are essential qualifications. Where neces-
sary the secretary should have competent assistants.
Can your school improve its record system to ad-
vantage? What is the chief cause of absence in your
school ?
5. The Treasurer and the Librarian. The work of
the treasurer of the school is much like that of the
treasurer of any other organization. He will receive
the income of the school and from it pay all expenses
after proper authorization. He will keep a careful
account of receipts by classes, showing the amount
received each Sunday and the total amount from
each class to date and the totals of each of these
amounts for the whole school. An itemized account
112
SUNDAY SCHOOL SUPERVISION
of expenditures and of gifts by classes or by the
whole school to special causes will also be part of
his record. If separate classes maintain class funds
and have class treasurers, a record of receipts and
expenditures from these funds should be given regu-
larly to the general treasurer. In cooperation with
a finance committee the treasurer will prepare the
annual budget of the school's expenses. His accounts
will be audited annually.
Where the community does not provide suitable
library facilities for children and young people, the
Sunday school may often find it necessary to do so.
In any case suggestions of worthwhile books to read
should be constantly circulated about the school.
Increased interest in the lessons of the different
grades may be aroused by having available for
voluntary reading books of stories, tales of mission-
ary adventure, and biography which effectively sup-
plement the class work. These, of course, should
be graded, of the best quality, and free from "preachi-
ness." State and county library associations often
have special lists of books for children, and the chil-
dren's librarians of larger libraries are always ready
to advise. Many general libraries are prepared to
lend books to Sunday-school libraries. The librarian
of a Sunday school thus has an unusual opportunity
to build up an interest in wholesome reading in the
pupils of the school. He will also be in charge of
the teacher's library, which every school should have,
and will be steadily strengthening it and increasing
its usefulness. He may also be in charge of order-
ing and distribution of the school supplies — text-
books, maps, and periodicals. Whenever necessary
113
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
for his effectiveness he should have an assistant, who
may thus be in training for a future librarianship.
A librarian who so desires can become one of the
most skilled and influential officers of the school.
How much attention do the superintendents and
teachers in your Sunday school pay to the reading
of its pupils?
6. The Work of the Superintendent. The superin-
tendent is the officer who is responsible for the con-
duct of the school as a whole. Through him the
various departments and aspects of the school are
unified into a complete organization, in which each
part contributes its definite share toward accomplish-
ing the aim of the whole. The successful superin-
tendent will not only clearly understand the general
aim of the school; he will know the specific aims
of each department, of each officer and teacher, by
which the general aim is to be realized. His work
will then consist in seeing that the specific aims
are carried out by each part of the school. It is in
this helpfulness to every worker that his supervision
will consist. He is thus primarily an administrator.
He must know all that goes on in the school, visit
each department and, where possible, each class, and
plan and execute the current routine of the school.
Where any of the duties of supervision described in
section two fall to him, he must fulfill them success-
fully.
Yet his work is not only that of keeping the school
running according to its past program. He must be
constantly leading his workers on to new and better
ways of work, to higher standards of effectiveness,
to clearer conceptions of religious education. He
114
SUNDAY SCHOOL SUPERVISION
must be thinking of those outside the school whom
it has yet to reach and planning the improvement and
enlargement of its facilities with them in view. He
must be seeing more and more opportunities in
which the Sunday school can be effective in promot-
ing the kingdom of God in the world.
Such leadership must be marked first of all by the
highest Christian character. The spirit of the super-
intendent will be reflected throughout the school.
He must also be a person of tact, good humor, and
firmness, whose leadership will be respected because
of his desire to serve effectively. His ability to
produce good work from his teachers and officers
will depend on his ability to do good work himself.
Needless to say, he will be constantly reading and
studying the principles and methods of work.
7. Councils of Workers. Of distinct value in the
supervisional program of the school are the workers*
councils, or workers' conferences, as they are often
called. It is in them that the spirit of teamwork
is aroused, and full understanding of one another's
task is made possible.
These councils may be of several kinds. The de-
partment superintendents and the general officers
may form a council for administrative or advisory
purposes. Here problems of personnel can be dis-
cussed and considered most satisfactorily. Other
councils will consist of the workers in a depart-
ment, in which the detailed plans for the work of the
department are developed week by week. Special
conferences can also be called of workers concerned
in a special problem.
Conferences of the entire staff should be held at
115
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
least as often as once a month. Routine business
should be handled rapidly, but every problem deserv-
ing serious attention should be carefully studied.
The general superintendent will see to it that the
program for these meetings is live and helpful and
really promotes the effectiveness of the school. It
may concern the immediate work of the school, such
as methods of worship, instruction, and activity, or
the broader problems of religious education. For
all of these useful materials and outlines of programs
will be found in the Sunday-school periodicals. More-
over, it is in these meetings that the policies of the
school, new and old, will be overhauled, modified,
and approved by the workers before being put into
execution. The whole school will feel the stimulus
of the cooperative spirit that should result from
effective workers' councils.
Constructive Work
Revise your list of officers and their duties so as to show
how every part of the work of your Sunday school may be
effectively supervised.
Is your record system increasing the average attendance
of your school? How does it? State how you would go
about finding out the church membership of your school.
References
Supervision in general:
"The Modern Sunday School," Cope, Chapter V.
"Organization and Administration," Athearn, Lessons II,
VII.
The secretary:
"The Sunday-School Secretary," McEntire.
116
SUNDAY SCHOOL SUPEEVISION
"The Sunday School at Work," Faris (editor), Part II.
The treasurer and the librarian:
"The Sunday School at Work," Faris (editor), Part III.
"The Modern Sunday School," Cope, Chapter XIX.
The superintendent:
"The Sunday School at Work," Faris (editor), pages
11-27, 37, 38.
"Sunday-School Officers Manual," Brown.
117
CHAPTER X
THE PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT OF THE SUN-
DAY SCHOOL
In the light of the purpose and organization of the Sun-
day school, as shown in Chapters II and III, what kind of
building and equipment ought the school to have?
1. The Importance of Physical Equipment. The
church can well afford to furnish the best facilities
possible for the work of the school. Here is where
the future church is being made. The Sunday school
of to-day is the church of to-rnorrow. If it is im-
portant to build and beautify a church auditorium
for the comfort of the grown-ups, surely no less
thought and money should be devoted to proper
facilities for the culture of the young. Let first
things be put first. Beautiful architecture, hand-
some furniture, costly cushions, expensive chairs for
the adult congregations, are not half so necessary
as are suitable surroundings for those who are being
developed in Christian character and prepared for
adult responsibilities in the church.
This fact is further emphasized by the realization
that the Sunday school in the main is dealing with
life in the most impressionable age — children and
young people who are peculiarly sensitive to their
surroundings. Whether consciously so or not, their
118
PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT
souls are being impressed, their lives influenced, not
only by the teacher and teaching material but by
the physical conditions under which they are taught.
If a beautiful picture of a ship and shimmering sea
can turn the heart of a lad to the sailor's life —
and this is true — too much attention cannot be given
to the physical equipment of the Sunday school.
We must bear in mind, too, that the Sunday
school is not only dealing with impressionable
material but is charged with the most important and
difficult task. It needs all the assistance that proper
environment can give. If the public school is pro-
vided with well-built, well-furnished, well-kept rooms
in which to teach the boy and girl mathematics, we
should certainly not tolerate meaner quarters in
which to teach religion. A child highly sensitive
to his surroundings can hardly be impressed with
the brightness and beauty of the Christian life by
the damp, unsightly rooms in which too many Sun-
day schools meet. The physical equipment of the
school measures the community's valuation of reli-
gious training ; it interprets to the child the father's
estimate of religion.
What valuation does your church place upon
physical equipment for the Sunday school?
2. General Character of the Building. The charac-
ter of the Sunday-school building should be in keep-
ing with the purpose of the school. It stands as the
symbol of soul culture; it represents both education
and religion. In its very architecture, therefore, it
should appropriately express the educational method
and the religious aim of the school.
In common with all buildings devoted to educa-
119
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
tion it should of course be simple and substantial
in material and construction. The particular style
of architecture may vary according to local condi-
tions, but in no case should anything showy or
superficial be used in the building that is to play
such a large part in forming the character of the
young. Everything about it ought to breathe the
atmosphere of genuineness. It need not be expensive.
It ought not to be ornate or gaudy. But whether
it cost little or much, it is not too much to ask that
it should be characterized by simple beauty. By
all means let the building be entirely comfortable,
well lighted and well ventilated. Many a valuable
lesson has entirely missed its mark because of the
physical conditions that the faithful teacher could
not overcome. Great care should be exercised to
see that it is entirely sanitary and safe from acci-
dents and fire. Indeed, all the advantages of the
best modern public-school buildings should find their
counterpart in the quarters set apart for the Sun-
day school.
But the Sunday-school building should stand dis-
tinctly for religion. It should not only embody the
best in education but should have about it an em-
phatic religious note. There are structures that
advertise on their very face that they are clubs.
Others say to every passer-by, "This is the place to
deposit your money." Others are a silent summons
to worship God. Is it too much to ask that the
building consecrated above all others to the cul-
ture of the soul should have stamped upon its very
image the supreme value of the religious life? But
the religion reflected in the Sunday-school building
120
PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT
is not a dreary, somber, monkish piety that has its
eyes closed to those about us and open only toward
the skies ; nor is it the empty, noisy, irreverent hustle
that has in it no sense of God. It is the healthy,
wholesome life of Christ, and this is the religion to
be embodied in the Sunday-school house — the father-
hood of God and the brotherhood of man. This is
confessedly a difficult task, but surely not impossible.
With proper thought and care it can and ought to
be made to witness to our faith in God and lift our
thoughts and feelings Godward; and by its light
and beauty and spaciousness it ought and can be
made to breathe the spirit of brotherliness. It is
a house of fellowship, human and divine.
How much attention has been given to make your
Sunday-school quarters express the thought of reli-
gious education?
3. The Arrangement of the Building. In the in-
terior arrangement of the Sunday-school building
the threefold function of the school must not be lost
sight of. It is intended for worship, for instruction,
and for such expressional activities as are helpful
in developing Christian character. There should
therefore be ample provision for worship under sur-
roundings fitted to inspire a true feeling of rever-
ence; there must be proper facilities for thorough
instruction; there must be facilities for expression
so far as this needs to be carried on in connection
with the Sunday-school building; and since the
proper carrying forward of these several phases of
effort requires more or less administrative work,
the arrangement of the building must make provision
also for this.
121
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
The principle of grading must also be fully recog-
nized in the arrangement of the modern Sunday-
school building. A few years ago the ideal building
was thought to be one in which the classes could be
separated for instruction, and all thrown together
at will for worship. These so-called principles of
"separateness" and "togetherness" found expression
in what is known as the Akron plan of building,
which consists of an auditorium with classrooms
on the sides or circumference radiating from the
superintendent's platform and capable of being
thrown at will into one room. This plan has been
found unsatisfactory. The classrooms thus con-
structed are not well suited to instruction, and the
assembly room divided up into pigeon holes is not
conducive to social worship. Then, too, this plan
does not recognize sufficiently the principle of grad-
ing, which demands not only graded instruction but
graded worship and graded activities. The graded
Sunday school demands a graded building.
In the application of this principle the completely
organized Sunday school requires separate depart-
mental facilities for each of the several departments.
According to the present organization this necessi-
tates such an arrangement of the building as to
provide an assembly room for each of the seven
departments: Beginners', Primary, Junior, Inter-
mediate, Senior, Young People's, Adult, each
room so separated from the other as to make possible
simultaneous services of worship without disturbing
each other. This, of course, calls for soundproof
walls. For the Beginners' Department it is not
customary to have classrooms. It is important to
122
PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT
provide in close proximity to the beginners' room
comfortable quarters for the Cradle-Roll class and
for mothers. In connection with each of the other
departmental assembly rooms it is desirable, when
practicable, to have classrooms enough to accommo-
date each class in the department. However, if a
choice must be made between separate assembly
rooms for the several departments and classrooms,
it is better to dispense with the classrooms. In-
deed, by grouping the pupils in small classes around
suitable tables, classrooms may be dispensed with in
connection with all except the Young People's and
Adult Departments. For these higher departments
classrooms are indispensable to the best work; and
of course all rooms, and most of all those for the
smaller children, should be above ground and have
an abundance of light and air. In connection with
each department there should be sufficient toilets and
closets for hats, coats, and umbrellas. Ample pro-
vision for midweek activities of the school may be
had by adapting the departmental rooms, particu-
larly those for the adolescent group, to the needs
of club life, with the addition, perhaps, of a game
room, a reading room, a dining room, a kitchen, and
an outdoor playground. Special rooms will be
needed for the administrative officers, for the teacher-
training class, for the library, and the like.
The cuts on pages 124-129 give the floor plans of
two proposed Sunday-school buildings. The first,
prepared by the Architectural Department of the
Board of Extension of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South (See Plan I), gives greater emphasis
to classrooms than does the second, prepared by the
123
Plan I. Ground Floor
124
Plan I. Main Floor
125
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
Plan I. Second Floor
126
PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT
Plan I. Third Floor
127
Plan II
SECOND FLOOR
128
PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT
Plan II
VNEXCAVATED-
a U
3ASIMEKT "PLAN
Bureau of Architecture of the Board of Sunday
Schools of the Methodist Episcopal Church (See
Plan II). These plans are of course only suggestive
and will call for various modifications to meet local
needs.
What changes in the arrangement of your Sunday-
school rooms would give your school better facilities
for its work?
4. Equipment of the Building. The equipment of
the Sunday-school building throughout should be in
keeping with the purpose and organization of the
school. It should therefore be such as will minister
most effectively to the development of character
through the processes of instruction, worship, and
129
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
expressional activities; and should be adapted to
the stages of maturity of the several departments.
It is important to give thoughtful attention to
the decoration of the rooms. The proper finishing
and coloring of the walls will go far toward creating
a wholesome atmosphere for the work of the school.
Restful tones, such as tan and cream, will be found
much better than the stronger colors. A few choice
pictures with a deep religious significance and ap-
propriate to the maturity of the pupils should be
hung upon the walls of each department. These
should be hung at a height suitable to the pupils
occupying the room. In the Beginners' and Primary
Departments the walls may be made very serviceable
for teaching purposes and at the same time generally
attractive by the use of a harmonious, colored bur-
lap dado hung on a level with the children's eyes.
Growing plants, flower boxes, hanging baskets, and
cut flowers may all be made to add to the beauty of
the surroundings and serve also, particularly in the
lower departments, as an aid in teaching.
The furnishings of every department should be
harmonious with the general color scheme, but this
is particularly important in the beginners', primary,
and junior rooms, where the children are more sensi-
tive to atmospheric influences. Every assembly room
should if possible have the floor covered with an
attractive carpet or rug kept clean and sanitary with
a vacuum cleaner. Adequate furnishings for every
department include a well-tuned piano, a table and
chair for the superintendent, suitable accommoda-
tions for the secretary and other officers, a cabinet
with ample and appropriate facilities for the teach-
130
PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT
ing materials used in the departments, and suitable
chairs for the pupils, arranged so that their backs
will be to the light. The chairs should of course be
smaller for the lower departments : in the Beginners'
Department, from 10 to 12 inches in height; in the
Primary, 12 to 14 inches; in the Junior, 15 to 17
inches. In all save the Adult, the Young People's,
and, perhaps, the Senior Departments it is impor-
tant to have tables around which the pupils will be
grouped for class work. If classrooms are available^
oblong tables sufficiently large to accommodate eight
or ten persons will be ideal ; if the classes meet in the
open, small round tables from 36 to 40 inches in
diameter are to be recommended. The height of
the tables will vary from 22 inches up according
to the department.
Proper equipment of the school must include also
an abundant supply of teaching material. Every
assembly room and classroom should have a first-
class wall blackboard. With the exception of the
Beginners' every department should be equipped with
a set of Biblical and missionary maps and charts,
securely attached to the wall. An ample supply of
literature for every grade in the school and a song-
book of high order, containing the really great
hymns of the church, for every pupil above the
Primary Department is indispensable to the best
work. Added to this there should be special material
for certain departments: blocks, pictures, curios,
birthday calendars, and banks for the Beginners'
and Primary Departments; a sand table, clay for
modeling, stereographs, etc., for the juniors.
Since the building devoted to religious education
131
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
must be adapted not only to worship and instruction
but to expressional activity, there should be pro-
vided equipment suitable to this end. The character
of the equipment will depend a good deal on the
community, and the provision in the community for
child life. One may mention, however, as desirable
equipment — unless otherwise sufficiently provided —
simple pieces, such as clubs, rings, and bars for a
gymnasium, games of various kinds for the play
room, dining-room and kitchen furnishings, play-
ground material for the outdoor playground, and the
like.
Again, for a completely equipped Sunday school
there will be needed certain furnishings necessary
to the general administration of the school. For the
office a desk, chairs, filing cases, card catalogue, type-
writer, duplicating machine, telephone, and the
usual office appliances should be supplied. For all
the rooms set apart for social purposes there ought
to be an equipment that will make the rooms most
effective for their purpose. Good equipment is as
important in every phase of Sunday-school work as
it is in a public building. 1
Is the equipment of your Sunday school in keep-
ing with the work the school ought to do?
5. Making the Most of What We Have. We have
been speaking of the physical equipment which the
Sunday school ought to have. But suppose condi-
tions do not justify ideal facilities, what can be
done to make the most of what we have?
1 For full details regarding equipment address the Sunday-School Board of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 810 Broadway, Nashville, Tennessee;
or the Board of Sunday Schools of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 58 East
Washington Street, Chicago, Illinois.
132
PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT
At comparatively small expense the one-room
building can be greatly improved for Sunday-school
purposes. The addition of two or three plain, inex-
pensive rooms in the rear or on the side of the
church, with a rolling partition or a simple door
between these and the church, will give the essen-
tials of a departmental building, making provision
for the smaller children. The auditorium of the
church, with little cost, can ordinarily be divided
into reasonably good classrooms without seriously-
marring the church. One of the most common ways
of doing this is by the use of curtains so hung on
wires that they can be pushed out of the way except
when in use. Perhaps a better plan is to use cur-
tains made like window shades. These can be at-
tached to the wall or window facing in a vertical
position and pulled out along the back of the pew.
They can be held in place by being attached to a
small iron rod run through two screw eyes in the
end of the pew, top and bottom. When the curtains
are not in use they roll up against the wall and are
fastened, while the rods are removed from the screw
eyes and put away. For a few dollars a number of
classrooms can be thus made in a one-room church
without in the least spoiling the auditorium for
preaching services. Another way of providing class-
rooms, perhaps not so satisfactory, is by the use of
movable screens, which can be placed wherever de-
sired.
In like manner a little thought and effort will
accomplish a good deal in the way of equipment
without the expenditure of much money. Much of
the most important material, such as maps and pic-
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ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
tures, can be had through the publishing houses for
an insignificant sum. The teacher or the pupils
themselves, in the case of the older children, can
make much valuable material not only for adorning
the rooms but for teaching purposes, such as sand
tables, blackboards for the wall, and smaller boards
for the lap.
With proper effort cannot the building and equip-
ment of your school be improved ?
Constructive Work
In view of the foregoing discussion write out the changes
in physical equipment which you think are needed and
practical for your Sunday school.
References
"Organization and Administration of the Church School,"
Athearn, Chapter V.
"The Modern Sunday School and Its Present-Day Task,"
Cope, Chapter IX.
134
CHAPTER XI
THE EXTENSION OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
Weite down in your notebook the various directions in
which the Sunday school can extend its usefulness. Con-
versation with Sunday-school workers on the subject will
be worth while.
1. Recruiting the Sunday School. Every Sunday
school worthy the name wants to grow. It is not
content to remain the same from year to year. It
will seek to extend its influence into wider and wider
circles. It will not of course desire to do this at
the expense of its own ideals. For the sake of in-
creasing in numbers it will not turn aside from its
high calling nor lower its standards of work. The
Sunday school is not a place of amusement but a
school of religion, and its first business is to make
itself thoroughly efficient for the accomplishment of
its purpose. Indeed, the first and best way of ex-
tending its influence is to have something worth ex-
tending. No amount of boosting and recruiting will
take the place of good teaching and effective manage-
ment. But along with this, proper effort should be
made to extend its benefits to the entire constituency
of the church.
There are many ways of doing this : (1) The causes
of leakage should be carefully studied, so that it may
be known why students drop out; and the weak
135
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
places should be corrected, so as to reduce the leak-
age to the minimum. (2) A systematic plan of look-
ing after the absentees should be adopted and con-
scientiously followed. An annual round-up of all
old members will not take the place of immediate
and individual attention to those who are absent.
In each case the cause of absence should be dis-
covered, and persistent effort made to overcome it.
Responsibility for this should be laid upon the
teacher and the members of the class, but the work
will need to be directed by an absentee secretary.
(3) A thorough census of the community, to locate
all the available material for expansion, is impor-
tant. The school will do well to keep a card cata-
logue of all the people in the territory and have a
system of correcting it from week to week. This
will make it possible to cultivate the entire con-
stituency intelligently. (4) With such information
available, systematic personal work will be most
effective in building up the school. A gradual, steady
growth obtained in this way is much better than
a large increase by means of a spasmodic effort.
(5) From time to time the work of the school should
be judiciously set before the church and community
by means of sermons, special writings, and exhibits
of work. Thus, an atmosphere can be created that
will make it easier to win recruits.
Is your school doing anything to recruit its mem-
bership ?
2. The Sunday School and the Babies. The babies
of the community furnish a splendid opportunity for
the extension of the Sunday school's influence. No
period of life is more important than the first three
136
SUNDAY-SCHOOL EXTENSION
years. At this time the child is more open to im-
pressions than ever afterward. At this time, too,
the little life is supremely in need of wholesome in-
fluences and wise guidance, that the foundations of
character may be laid deep and well. During this
period the child is entirely under the influence of
the home, but most homes are much in need of assist-
ance in caring for and training the babies ; not many
parents feel themselves competent to fulfill the diffi-
cult task. This offers the Sunday school its oppor-
tunity. Through the Cradle Koll it should seek to
minister to the babies through assistance to the
parents.
There are several important services that the
Cradle Roll should render the home: (1) It should
give to parents a true conception of child life and of
their responsibility for its proper development. Not
many parents realize the far-reaching significance
of the first three years in shaping the child's char-
acter and destiny. (2) The Cradle Roll should seek
also to help parents to meet their responsibility. A
keen realization of the problem is necessary but not
sufficient. In many ways the efficient Cradle-Roll
worker will bring assistance to the parents. (3)
Again, the Cradle Roll forms a nexus between the
child and the church. Its workers should cooperate
with the pastor in seeing that the little ones are
baptized, and their relation to the church properly
recognized. (4) More generally, the Cradle Roll
should quicken the religious life of the home. Not
infrequently the interest manifested in the baby on
the part of Cradle-Roll workers results in creating
in the parents a new attitude toward the church
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ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
and a new life in Christ. For the successful prosecu-
tion of this work there is required a superintendent
or principal who loves children and has an intelligent
understanding of child life. Assistants may be used
according to the needs. In carrying out the purposes
of the department many things may be done. The
workers will keep an accurate record of all those
enrolled and have the names attractively displayed
in the Sunday-school room; they will remember the
little ones on their birthdays, will visit the homes
and give to the mothers such suggestions as may be
desirable, will recommend suitable stories and plays,
and will distribute any literature that may be help-
ful to mothers. A special Cradle-Roll day at least
once a year will greatly stimulate the work and
furnish a fitting occasion for baptizing the babies
and for the promotion of those who are old enough
to enter the Beginners' Department. An occasional
meeting for mothers whose children are members of
the Cradle Roll may be made socially and educa-
tionally helpful. Necessary supplies for the work
of the department may be had from the denomina-
tional publishing houses.
Are the babies receiving proper attention from
your Sunday school?
3. The Home Department. The Home Department
is designed to bring into Sunday-school membership
all those who for any reason cannot attend the Sun-
day-school session. It is particularly well suited to
the aged, the invalid, and the mothers whose duties
confine them to the home. The aim of the depart-
ment, as generally defined, is (1) to extend the mem-
bership and fellowship of the Sunday school; (2)
138
SUNDAY-SCHOOL EXTENSION
to promote Bible study; and (3) to encourage family
and individual devotion. The latter is a recent en-
largement of the purpose of the Home Department
and, though important and desirable, not essential
to membership. As the department is usually or-
ganized, its scope may be broadened and made to
include the promotion of religious education in the
home. But this carries it over into other depart-
ments of the fully organized Sunday school.
As indicated by its name the Home Department
is a part of the Sunday school, and its members
should be recognized and encouraged to think of
themselves as such. The superintendent, under the
governing body of the school, is responsible for the
department; but perhaps greater efficiency in its
work will be obtained by giving the department con-
siderable autonomy in the management of its own
affairs. The principle has worked well in the Adult
Department and no doubt will be equally helpful in
the Home Department. In this way the officers of
the department are elected, and the work determined,
by the department itself, subject to the approval of
the workers' council or Sunday-school board.
The officers ordinarily consist of a superintendent
and visitors. Other officers and any committees de-
sired may be selected according to the needs. The
members are divided into groups according to con-
venience, with a visitor in charge of each group, who
should visit each member quarterly. As the visitors
make their calls they should distribute the quarter-
lies, collect offerings, endeavor to stimulate thor-
ough study of the lesson, give information about the
church and the Sunday school, discuss any special
139
OKGANIZATION AND ADMINISTKATION
matters previously agreed upon as the quarter's
program for the department, enroll new members,
etc. Special meetings should be held for the mem-
bers of the department. Socials, lectures, an annual
sermon, a Home-Department day in the Sunday
school, and business meetings will increase interest
in the work. Suitable equipment for the superin-
tendent and visitors may be had from your church
publishing houses.
4. Extension Classes for Special Groups. In many
communities, particularly the larger towns and
cities, there are special groups of people who are
kept away from Sunday school because of their em-
ployment. Such are the firemen, the policemen, the
street-car men, the telephone operators, and other
workers. The Sunday school has an obligation to
all such groups and should seek to extend its bene-
fits to them through the organization of special
classes.
In some instances these classes can best be held
at the regular Sunday-school hour but at a place
convenient for the men, as, for example, a Sunday-
morning class for firemen at a station house. In
other cases it will be necessary to carry on the work
at another hour, perhaps at some time during the
week. The time and place are of secondary con-
sideration ; the important thing is to give to all who
are shut out from the Sunday school the benefits of
systematic religious instruction and of Christian
fellowship.
This work can perhaps be most successfully ac-
complished through the Adult Department of the
Sunday school. The materials of instruction pro-
140
SUNDAY-SCHOOL EXTENSION
vided for the adult classes are well suited to such
groups; so also are their plan of organization and
their program of work. Then, too, it is mutually
helpful to the adult classes of the school and to
these special groups to be brought in close contact
as two parts of the one Adult Department of the
school.
5. Training Parents and Other Christian Workers.
Attention has been called in Chapter VII to the
training of Sunday-school teachers. The importance
of this work can scarcely be overemphasized. There
are, however, several good reasons for not confining
this phase of Sunday-school effort to the training
of teachers; it may well be enlarged to include
parents and various types of workers. To some
degree this may be done in connection with the
regular session of the school, by means of special
adult classes for that purpose. In the main, how-
ever, it will perhaps be necessary to carry it on as
extension work during the week.
Through the work of the Home Department and
the Cradle Roll class, already discussed, something
' may be done to assist parents in their difficult task.
But more definite systematic training is needed than
is usually given through these agencies, and parents
not only of the babies but of children in the several
periods of development are greatly in need of assist-
ance. Here, then, the school has a fine field for
service, which it can render through the organiza-
tion of parents' classes or clubs. The parents can
be grouped according to the convenience of meeting,
the period of child life they are particularly in-
terested in, or the special problem to be studied.
141
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
The work of the Sunday school in training parents
is still in its infancy, but it will undoubtedly grow
to large proportions. Every Sunday school should
have at least one class composed of parents study-
ing the problems of religious training in the home.
Books suitable to such study can be had by cor-
respondence with the Sunday-school headquarters of
the denomination.
Larger emphasis must be given also to the effi-
ciency of the church and to the training of workers
to this end. Surely this is one of the big oppor-
tunities of the Sunday school. In charity effort, in
social service, in mission work, and in all the de-
partments of the church there is need for well-
trained workers. Nor is there any agency in the
church or community so well situated for under-
taking this service. With patience and persistence
the Sunday school can do much to supply the church
with efficient workers for the accomplishment of its
manifold task.
Is your Sunday school doing anything to train
parents and other Christian workers?
6. Week-Day Instruction in Religion. Perhaps the
greatest limitation upon the work of the Sunday
school is the insufficient time at its disposal. With
only one session a week and less than an hour and
a half for its work the Sunday school cannot fully
meet the need for religious education. There is a
growing appreciation of the importance of the reli-
gious element in education and a growing conviction
that this cannot be sufficiently supplied by the one
Sunday-school period. In view of these facts one
of the greatest things the school can do, perhaps,
142
SUNDAY-SCHOOL EXTENSION
is to act as a dynamic center for inspiring and pro-
moting education in religion outside of the Sunday-
school hour.
Many types of week-day instruction are being tried
in various parts of the country with more or less
success. In some instances classes conducted under
the auspices of the Sunday school meet during the
week rather than on Sunday for the convenience of
the members of the class. Another plan of week-day
instruction in religion provides for classes on Wed-
nesday or some other afternoon in the week and
calls for the release of the children from the public
school at the option of their parents for the purpose
of attending the church school. Somewhat similar,
but much more ambitious, is the plan of religious
education in operation at Gary, Indiana. Here
several churches provide week-day instruction in
which the children of the public school for a certain
number of hours a week, by request of the parents,
are allowed to take part. This week-day religious
instruction, in its relation to the Sunday school,
varies in the several churches from complete inde-
pendence to coordination. There can be little doubt
that the Sunday school should inspire and promote
all such efforts for more extensive and systematic
instruction in religion. And in the final solution
week-day religious instruction and Sunday-school
work should be closely coordinated.
Much may also be done, and in some places is al-
ready being done, for the extension of religious edu-
cation by the utilization of the summer vacations.
The school children are in most cases unoccupied,
and a great service can be rendered them and their
143
ORGANIZATION AM) ADMINISTRATION
home by employing a part of their time in the study
of the Bible and kindred subjects along with other
useful studies. This is being done through the Daily
Vacation Bible Schools, which were inaugurated in
2s'ew York in 1901 by Robert G. Boville and which
have grown into a national movement incorporated
as the Daily Vacation Bible School Association, with
headquarters in New York City. These schools
frequently are directed and maintained by a Sunday
school or group of Sunday schools. They furnish a
splendid opportunity for the Sunday school to do
extension work that is well worth while.
Is there anything that your school can do to
promote systematic week-day instruction in religion?
7. The Sunday School and Community Service.
Becognizing that education is much broader than
formal courses of instruction and training, that the
immature life is being shaped by all the surround-
ing influences, the Sunday school cannot afford to
be indifferent to the social conditions that help or
hinder the proper development of mural and reli-
gious character. It will see many ways of extend-
ing its influence and usefulness in various forms of
community service. It should seek, first of all. to
know the conditions that surround the children and
young peorjle of the Sunday school and community.
A careful investigation should be made of these.
What are the playground possibilities and influ-
ences? What kind of literature is being read, and
what are the opportunities for wholesome reading?
What sort of social and club life is offered to young
people? What is the character of the amusements
most patronized? A complete answer to such ques-
144
SUNDAY-SCHOOL EXTENSION
tions as these will enable the Sunday school to do
its work much more effectively.
In similar manner the school should know the
influences and agencies that are contributing toward
the building up of child life. It should form a
league, offensive and defensive, with every agency or
movement striving to develop Christian character.
From the various agencies that deal with child life
in the community it may receive great help in doing
its special work and, in return, may render them
valuable assistance.
What could your school do to extend its influence
through community service?
Constructive Work
After having studied this chapter write in your notebook
what you think your school ought to do to recruit its mem-
bership and to extend the benefits of religious education
to those who cannot attend the school session.
References
"The Modern Sunday School and Its Present-Day Task,"
Cope.
"The Organization and Administration of the Church
School," Athearn.
"The Sunday School at Work," Faris (editor).
145
CHAPTER XII
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL AND THE CHURCH
How far do the members of your church take an inter-
est in the Sunday school? Find out what is done to culti-
vate that interest.
What provision does the governing board of your local
church make for the work of the Sunday school? How are
the expenses of your school met?
1. The Responsibility of the Church for the Sunday
School. Every church that seeks to carry out the
purposes of Jesus in the promotion of his kingdom
will be alive to its responsibility for the religious
■education of all whom it can reach — young or old.
It will know that only as it does this can it be a
successful church, and the kingdom's advance be
made permanent and strong. The Sunday school
must therefore be regarded by the church not as an
attachment, a separate institution, but as an essen-
tial part of its very life. The wise church will see
that its Sunday school is the best that it can make
it.
To do this the church must provide the school with
adequate resources in building, equipment, and
finance and the best resources of intelligence for its
direction. Just as the community seeks to secure
the best conditions for the secular education of its
children in the public school, so the church must
do for their religious education. But it must do
more than equip the school; it must maintain it.
146
SUNDAY SCHOOL AND CHURCH
The expenses of the school should be a regular part
of the budget of the church, just as much as the
bills for light, heat, music, and the janitor. The
Sunday school should not need to calculate upon
its offerings to meet its bills. It must be left free
to train the children in intelligent giving, and for
this it must be free to guide the giving of the school
into unselfish channels. If it can do this, the church
treasury of the next generation will be filled more
easily. Even if the Sunday school raised no money
whatever, it would still be the duty of the church to
provide for it generously because of its educational
service to the kingdom. As a matter of fact, the
work of the church will be one of the causes to
which the pupils of the school will give and give
regularly. And just as much as other members of
the church they should know how the money they
give is expended. If it simply disappears into the
cash box of the school treasurer, the interest of
the pupil in the gift is checked off. Whether the
amount the church receives from the Sunday school
be more or less than its expenditures, the church
should pay the costs of the school, including enough
to cover constant improvements. Only so can it
deal fairly with so important a part of its life.
Still further to express the relation of the school
to the church, the latter should give special recog-
nition to the teachers and officers of the school. Each
year one of the services of the church, near or at the
beginning of the school year, should be devoted to
a consecration or installation service for the teachers
and officers. In such a service the meaning of reli-
gious education may properly be the pastor's theme.
147
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
Indeed, only as the church comes to be intelligent
concerning the work of the school can it be expected
to support it properly. To accomplish this an
annual exhibit of the work of the school is most
valuable. In it should be included for each class
examples of the pupils' handwork, class notebooks,
textbooks, a placard listing the Christian service of
the class, a copy of the class prayer, and other ob-
jects that the pupils will delight in showing their
parents and friends. The general work of the school
can be shown by placards on which are neatly let-
tered statements of the school budget, of the per-
centage of attendance and promptness by classes for
two or more years in succession, the names of pupils
who have not been absent or late for the year, the
figures of the school's enrollment by classes and
departments, typical programs of worship, and il-
lustrated mottoes on religious education. In addi-
tion to this the alert pastor and superintendent will
find many ways of keeping the church interested in
the work of the school.
What can you do to arouse a larger interest in
the school on the part of your church?
2. The Sunday School and Other Church Organiza-
tions. When we consider the activities that go on
in a church we discover that there are other organi-
zations than the Sunday school which are doing reli-
gious-educational work with children and youth.
Almost all of them arose to meet needs which the
Sunday school had overlooked by giving its sole
attention to instruction. The young people's so-
cieties sprang up because the school had failed to
provide adequately for the social, recreational, and
148
SUNDAY SCHOOL AND CHUKCH
devotional activity of the growing youth of the
church. Others were fostered by the woman's mis-
sionary organizations for the sake of the missionary
education of the children. Still others, such as
boys' clubs, have endeavored to hold the boys of the
church by the inducements of club life. Each has
developed its own program of work independently
both of the Sunday school and of the others.
All of these have been useful, and most of them
effective in their own work. But now that the
broader ideal of religious development and charac-
ter training has arisen, the confusion and waste
caused by overlapping and uncorrelated work is be-
coming more and more strikingly apparent. One
organization sets one appeal before the child, and
one another; some children have one aspect of their
training overdeveloped, another neglected ; others are
missed altogether. Again, the effort of one worker
is duplicated by that of another, and some who are
competent to do a large work are cramped by the
lack of opportunity.
If, accordingly, the work of the local church in
religious education is to be effective and thorough,
this condition must be corrected. A unified and
complete program of religious education for the
whole church should be formed and put into effect.
Its fundamental principle would not be, How is this
organization or that to have its chance at the chil-
dren and young people? but, What training do they
need and how can it best be given them? In such
a program some of these organizations would no
doubt disappear. Others would be correlated with
departments of the Sunday school. The young peo-
149
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
pie's societies, for example, should be identical in
membership with the departments of the Sunday
school to which they correspond. If the department
is organized with pupil officers, as has been sug-
gested, 1 these officers will be identical in both depart-
ment and society. What were formerly two separate
programs of recreation and service now become one.
If desired, the name of the organization may be
retained because of its value as a club title, but the
actual work should be completely drawn into the
single form of organization. Young people not in
the department because of service elsewhere in the
Sunday school should be included in membership
for the social and recreational program. If this
correlation is made, the supervision of mature leader-
ship which the young people's societies often need
can be applied.
To provide such a program and to supervise the
entire educational work of the church, many churches
are coming to employ salaried officers known as
"directors of religious education." For these workers
the demand is greater than the supply. Such direc-
tors are men or women who have specialized in reli-
gious education. In some places they serve two or
more churches at a time, much as a country or city
superintendent of schools. It is to the services of
such competent leadership that the churches must
look for guidance in rendering their greatest educa-
tional service to society and to the kingdom.
What are the chief difficulties you see in the way
of forming a unified educational program for your
church? How may they be overcome?
» Chapter VII.
150
SUNDAY SCHOOL AND CHURCH
3. The Church Committee on Education. Whether
or not the church is able to enjoy such trained
educational leadership as the employment of a direc-
tor of religious education provides, it should in any
case have as one of the permanent and active com-
mittees of the governing board a committee on edu-
cation. Upon the members of this committee will
rest the final responsibility for the educational work
of the church. They must know for themselves by
study and observation the duty of the church to the
child and they must see that this duty is done.
Under their control will be all the educational agen-
cies of the church. Not only must all organizations
seeking to do educational work receive their ap-
proval; they must themselves be active in forming
a comprehensive and thorough program of religious
education for their church and see that it is carried
out. They will present to the church the need of
their program in equipment, finances, and personnel.
They will educate the church to a high sense of
responsibility for supporting this program. By them
all the chief educational officers of the church will
be appointed and all general policies approved.
Such a committee should also represent the church
in community matters in which the welfare of its
pupils are concerned. They will be alert to the
dangers and the possibilities of public amusement,
moving pictures, and playgrounds. They will be in
constant touch with the general agencies of religious
education, such as the church boards and the Reli-
gious Education Association, and will be ready to
learn from the experience of other churches and
other communities.
151
OKGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
This committee will be composed of three or five
of the most capable men and women whom the church
has, with the pastor and the superintendent of the
Sunday school ex officio. If one or more of the
members has definite educational experience, so much
the better. A place on this committee should be
a place of honor and responsibility. 2
By what method does your church govern the work
of the Sunday school? Do the rules of your church
provide a definite method for doing this ?
4. School Life and Church Life. Even when the
church has provided the school with adequate equip-
ment, a well-trained staff, and capable supervision,
it has one more important thing to do for the reli-
gious education of its children and young people.
That is to make their life in the school one with
life in the church.
As he grows up each pupil must know the church
as his. Not only does he belong to it, but it belongs
to him. He must be encouraged to attend the church
services not simply by exhortation in his class or
in the school but by the welcome he receives when he
comes and by the degree to which the services help
him as well as his elders. The attitude of church
members — especially if they be his parents — toward
the church, toward their fellow members, toward
2 The Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church requires the Quar-
terly Conference (the governing body) of the local church to have general
oversight of the Sunday school, confirming or rejecting the superintendents
elected by the Sunday-school board, and exercising similar authority over
the Epworth and Junior Leagues and other church organizations. The Sun-
day-school committee of the Quarterly Conference, with the officers and
teachers of the school and the pastor as chairman, form the Sunday-school
board, which is made responsible for the detailed conduct of the school. The
Quarterly Conference could very properly put upon the Sunday-school com-
mittee the responsibility of forming^ and putting into effect a unified educa-
tional program for the church of the kind indicated in section two of this chapter.
It is necessary, however, that this committee be thoroughly qualified for its
task.
152
SUNDAY SCHOOL AND CHUKCH
the pastor, will greatly influence if not determine
his opinion of the church and its importance. More-
over, the feeling that there is somehow a chasm
between church and school, and that the church
belongs to the "grown-ups," who consequently look
down on the Sunday school, must not be tolerated
in the officers of either church or school. To permit
it is to deprive the child of his rightful heritage in
the church of God.
The strongest tie that will bind young people to
the church is their opportunity to be of service to
it. For this they do not need to wait until they have
been graduated from the school. Departments or
classes can be responsible for beautifying the church
grounds, providing flowers for the services, helping
at entertainments, ushering at concerts, carrying
provisions to the needy, and many other deeds of
helpfulness. Such activities should be carefully
fitted into the graded program of service and be
governed by the same principles as other parts of
that program. Furthermore, young people who have
shown themselves effective workers should from time
to time be added to church committees or made as-
sistants of church officers to serve as apprentices in
religious leadership. In such positions the responsi-
bility placed on the young workers should be real,
and their ideas and suggestions given as thoughtful
consideration as those of workers of longer experi-
ence. It is thus that freshness and vigor are insured
for the life of the church, and its future leadership
guaranteed. The promise of rich and effective life
of the church in the serious days to come lies in the
sincere welcome it gives to youth to-day.
153
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
How far do the pupils of your school feel at home
in the church?
5. The Challenge of the School as a Field for Serv-
ice. The young people who have been reading and
studying in this book will be quick to realize that
the obligation of the church to do its duty by them
is not one-sided. They also have a duty toward the
church. It is to respond to the call for service which
the church — not always in so many words or by
action of the official board but by its own need and
its endeavor to minister to men — puts before them.
Not all will find their field of service in the same
place. Aptitudes vary, and there are a variety of
opportunities awaiting alert-minded young people
who have heard the summons of the Master of life,
"Go work in my vineyard." Some will find their
place in the ministry or in the mission field. Most
will enter the busy world of commerce and manu-
facture or the quieter but no less busy life of the
home and the school. Upon the permeation of all
society with the ideals of Jesus by his loyal followers
the coming of God's kingdom depends. Such fol-
lowers of Christ the Sunday school seeks to send
out into the world.
Yet some of these followers the school must also
draw back into itself for service to those who are
coming after. In the long process of building up
the kingdom among men continuous education in
morals and religion is the foundation layer. Every-
thing rests upon that. No conviction is so firmly
held by the leaders of the world to-day as the con-
viction that the righteousness of nations and the
hope of a desirable civilization depend upon the
154
SUNDAY SCHOOL AND CHURCH
moral character of the people themselves. What
young man or young woman who has the gifts and
— what is more — the determination to acquire the
skill does not desire to help lay that foundation?
And what more important agency than the Sunday
school in which to labor in helping to lay that foun-
dation? The demand for effective teachers and
officers is far greater than the supply. The general
raising of the standards of work in Sunday schools
has made investment in them worthy of any man's
time and energy. The careful work of the Sunday-
school boards and publishing houses of the churches
is making equipment and training of the highest
quality available to all.
Surely those who have caught Jesus' vision of
the greatness of the kingdom and the importance of
the child in it may well afford to think long and
seriously before saying "no" to the call to invest
their mind and heart and will in the work of the
Sunday school.
Constructive Work
On the basis of your studies outline a program in which
the activities of the other educational organizations of the
church might be correlated with the Sunday school.
How would you set about increasing the interest of your
church in the Sunday school?
How would you put up to a group of your friends the
opportunities and challenge to work in the Sunday school?
References
"The Church School," Athearn, Chapter II.
"The Modern Sunday School," Cope, Chapters III, XX.
155
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